Illll 

1  II  IIIIIUIII.IIUIUJII 

liiiiiliiiiiiiiiinnii- 

mi:;. 

1 

1 

II 

1 

1 

1 

m||I 

1 

iplH 

1    IIS 

Ite 

ilr 

nBpj 

^  ,  ^- 


^^^i^'cj-   ^jC^.,^     ^^^'=^.^^■^^^^7^ 


-^^'^^^ 


SERMONS   AND  ADDRESSES 


S  E  K  M  0  N  S 


ADDRESSES, 


VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 


REV.  D.  L.'^CARROLL,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LINDSAY   &  BLAKISTON. 

1847. 


SEntcrelJ,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 
D.  L.  Carroll,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court 

of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


Wm.  S.  YouNa,  Printer. 


PREFACE. 


Br  the  kind  providence  of  God  the  author  has 
been  permitted  to  fulfil  a  conditional  promivse  given 
to  his  friends,  a  year  ago,  in  the  preface  to  his  first 
volume  of  Sermons  and  Addresses;  namely,  that 
were  life  prolonged  and  a  sufficient  degree  of  health 
granted,  he  would  "  publish  another  volume  of  equal 
size,  and  perhaps  of  better  selection  "  than  the  first. 
It  is  a  grave  question  with  him  now  whether  he  has 
fulfilled  the  last  clause  of  this  promise,  and  has  really 
made  a  "better  selection  "  of  subjects  than  in  the 
former  instance.  The  Sermons  that  constitute  the 
principal  part  of  this  volume  have  been  chosen 
rather  through  deference  to  the  taste  and  known 
wishes  of  his  friends  and  former  parishioners,  than 
on  his  own  individual  judgment.  It  would  have 
been  more  accordant  with  his  desire  to  employ  the 
precious  remnant  of  his  time  and  of  his  waning 
strength  in  the  way  that  would  promise  most  use- 
fulness, had  he  been  left  free  to  select  Sermons  more 
strictly  practical,  and  such  as  would  make  a  direct 
and  pungent  appeal  to  the  conscience  and  the  heart 
of  the  reader.  But,  to  many  friends  a  pledge  was 
given,  a  year  ago,  that  were  a  second  volume  pub- 
lished, it  should  contain  certain  discourses  which 
they  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  have  inserted.  It 
is  specially  to  be  regretted  that,  amongst  tlie  Ser- 
mons thus  promised,  was  the  one  on  heaven,  or  the 
1* 


VI  PREFACE. 

"  better  country ,''  as,  since  that  pledge  was  given, 
the  author  has  read,  from  the  pen  of  the  most  gifted 
and  eloquent  divine  now  living,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Melvill,  B.  D.,  of  England,  a  sermon  on  the  same 
subject  of  such  transcendent  excellence  as  to  render 
it  seeming  vanity,  if  not  inexcusable  presumption, 
for  any  ordinary  man  to  publish  one  on  this  exalted 
theme,  which  the  transatlantic  preacher  has  sur- 
rounded with  so  unparalleled  a  halo  of  glory,  that 
it  would  appear  as  though  it  had  been  borrowed 
from  the  blessed  scene  described.  The  one  to  be 
inserted  in  this  volume  has  been  promised,  and 
must  therefore  appear,  though  no  one  can  be  more 
sensible  than  the  author  himself  of  how  greatly  it 
will  suffer  in  the  comparison  with  the  discourse  of 
the  distinguished  and  popular  clergyman  whose 
name  has  been  mentioned. 

The  preparation  of  this  second  volume  has  occu- 
pied all  the  time,  during  the  past  year,  which  the 
author's  enfeebled  state  permitted  him  to  devote  to 
any  kind  of  application.  In  one  sense,  the  work 
has  been  done  "  in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and  in 
much  trembling,''  lest  it  should  not  be  accomplished 
at  all.  And  although  more  labour  and  care  have 
been  bestowed  on  it  than  on  the  first  volume,  he  is 
sensible  that  it  still  has  defects  which  a  more  care- 
ful revision,  did  time  and  health  permit,  would 
remedy.  But  such  a  revision  it  cannot  now  re- 
ceive. It  must  be  committed  as  it  is,  to  the  cle- 
mency and  indulgence  of  the  friends  for  whose 
sakes  and  by  whose  kind  patronage  it  is  published 
and  commended  to  the  blessing  and  overruling  hand 
of  that  God  who,  notwithstanding  its  imperfections, 


PREFACE.  VU 

can  make  it  instrumental  of  good,  because  it  is  His 
prerogative  to  choose  "the  weak  things  of  the  world 
to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty.'* 

It  is  no  affectation  of  modesty  in  the  author  to 
say,  that  he  has  no  sanguine  hopes  respecting  tlie 
reception  which  this  second  volume  may  meet  with 
from  his  friends  and  the  public,  whilst  he  has  many 
forebodings  that  it  may  disappoint  tlieir  expecta- 
tions, and  be  regarded  as  inferior  to  the  first.  Were 
he  sensitive  as  to  fame,  or  aiming  to  establish  a 
reputation  as  a  writer,  he  would  not  publish  this 
volume  with  its  present  selection,  both  of  Sermons 
and  Addresses.  That  author  must  be  very  ignorant 
of  the  laws  which  govern  the  reading  public,  who 
does  not  know  that,  however  little  the  expectation, 
and  however  low  the  standard  created  by  liis  first 
production,  a  second,  which  may  have  equal,  but 
only  equal  merit,  will  not  be  esteemed  so,  because 
there  is  a  silent  assumption  in  every  mind  that  it 
ought  to  be  better,  in  order  to  justify  its  publica- 
tion; and  hence,  if  it  be  only  equal,  the  disappoint- 
ment produces  a  reaction  which  renders  it  the  less 
popular  of  the  two.  But  the  knowledge  of  this 
fact  has  not  deterred  the  author  from  issuing  the 
present  volume.  Other  and  paramount  considera- 
tions have  influenced  him  in  this  matter.  The  pos- 
sibility that  the  volume  may  contain  and  give  some 
permanency  even  to  one  of  those  eternal  and  immu- 
table truths  of  God  which  his  Spirit  uses  as  the 
means  of  edifying  the  Christian,  or  of  awakening 
and  converting  the  sinner,  has  been  a  sufficient  rea- 
son, in  his  view,  for  its  publication,  notwithstand- 
ing the  disadvantages  it  may  encounter  in  compari- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

son  with  similar  volumes  of  other  authors,  or  with 
the  one  that  preceded  it  from  his  own  pen. 

The  hours  employed  in  its  preparation,  though 
many  of  them  have  been  hours  of  physical  suffering 
and  depression,  yet  have  they  been  mingled  with  a 
melancholy  pleasure,  as  not  only  diverting  the  au- 
thor's mind  from  dwelling  on  the  fatal  malady  under 
which  he  is  labouring,  but  as  furnishing  some  scope 
to  that  love  of  mental  effort  and  that  hope  of  result- 
ant usefulness  which  have  been  two  elements  of  his 
happiness  for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Whilst 
engaged  in  the  work,  it  has  seemed  to  give  a  pleasing 
vividness  to  the  associations  of  his  pastoral  life  when 
busied,  from  week  to  week,  in  preparing  these  and 
other  topics  of  discourse  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
a  beloved  and  affectionate  people.  And  now  that 
he  has  finished  it,  a  most  tender  and  undefinable 
sadness  steals  over  his  spirit,  as  though  the  last 
link  were  parted  that  bound  him  to  all  those  to 
whom  he  once  ministered,  in  the  earlier  and  palm- 
ier days  of  life.  Gratefully  recording  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  thankfully  acknowledging  the  kind 
sympathies  and  liberal  patronage  of  friends,  that 
have  cheered  and  enabled  him  to  accomplish  the 
work,  he  would  bow  without  a  murmur  to  that  dis- 
pensation of  the  all-wise  and  ever-blessed  God, 
which  has  already  set  him  aside  from  the  active 
duties  of  the  holy  office,  cut  off  his  hopes,  and  is 
steadily  bringing  him  "  to  the  house  appointed  for 
all  living."  "Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth 
good  in  thy  sight." 

Nbwark,  Del.,  Aug.  4,  1847. 


CONTENTS 


SERMONS. 

SERMON  I. 
The  Strength  of  the  Sinner's  Resistance  to  Christ 
AND  THE  Gospel, 13 

''Because  I  knew  thee  that  thou  art  obstinate,  and  thy 
neck  is  an  iron  sinew,  and  thy  brow  brass." — Is.  xlviii.  4. 

SERMON  II. 

The  Advantages  of  a  Connexion  with  the  Church 

OF  God, 35 

•'^Come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good:  for  the 

Lord  hath  spoken  good  concerning  Israel." — ^Num.  x.  29. 

SERMON  III. 
The  melancholy  Career  of  the  Sinner  in  banish- 
ing his  serious  Concern  for  Salvation,        .        .     58 
"He  went  away  sorrowful." — Matt.  xix.  22. 

SERMON  IV. 

The  kind  of  Influence  which  Christians  are  obli- 
gated TO  exert  upon  the  world,    .        .        .        .80 
''In  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation, 

among  whom  ye  shine  as  lights  in  the  world." — Phil.  ii. 

15. 

SERMON  V. 

The  Evidence  that  Sinners  are  spiritually  Lost,     105 
"  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that 

which  was  lost." — Luke  xix.  10. 


X  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  VI. 
The  Interview  of  Moses  and  Elijah  with  the  Mes- 
siah, ON  the  Mount  of  TransfiguratioNj  .  .123 
'•'And  behold  there  talked  with  him  two  men,  which 
were  Moses  and  Elias,  who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake 
of  the  decease  which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem." 
— Luke  ix.  30,  31. 

SERMON  VII. 
The  illusive  Show  of  the  present  Life,  .         .  150 

'^  Surely  every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show." — Psalm 
XXXIX.  6. 

SERMON  VIII. 

The  Things  implied  in  a  proper  Government  of 
the  Thoughts, 169 

''  Bringing  every  thought  into  captivity  unto  the 

obedience  of  Christ." — 2  Cor.  x.  5. 

SERMON  IX. 

The  Considerations  that  enforce  the  Duty  of  go- 
verning THE  Thoughts, 197 

"Bringing  every  thought  into  captivity  unto  the 

obedience  of  Christ." — 2  Cor.  x.  6. 

SERMON  X. 
The  Claims  of  Africa  on  the  Christian  World  to  send 

HER  the  Gospel, 226 

"And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in 
all  the  world,  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations." — Matt. 
XXIV.  14. 

SERMON  XL 

The  New  Song, 250 

"And  they  sung  a  new  song." — Rev.  v.  9. 

SERMON  XIL 

The  Sinner's  Power  of  destroying  Good,     .        .         .  268 

"  But  one  sinner  destroyeth  much  good." — Ec.  ix.  18. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

SERMON  Xni. 

The  Better  Country, 295 

"But  now  they  desire  a  better  country;  that  is,  a  lica- 
venly." — Heb.  xi.  16, 


ADDRESSES. 


The  Influence  which  the  Bible  is  adapted  to  exert 

ON  Young  Men, 320 

Delivered  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety, in  the  city  of  New  York,  May,  1836. 

II. 
The  Influence  of  Intellectual  Cultivation  on  Female 
Happiness, 347 

Delivered  before  a  Dorcas  Society  of  young  ladies  be- 
longing to  the  author's  pastoral  charge. 


SERMONS 


I. 

"  Because  I  knew  thee  that  thou  art  obstinate,  and  thy  neck  is  an 
iron  sinew  and  thy  brow  brass." — Isaiah  xlviii.  4. 

This  is  the  language  of  God  to  his  ancient  people. 
On  first  view  it  is  rather  surprising  that,  to  a  people 
in  covenant  relation  with  himself,  such  a  style  of  ad- 
dress should  he  adopted  by  the  High  and  Holy  One. 
The  preceding  verses,  however,  show  that  it  was  the 
tmconverted  portion  of  Israel  whose  character  is 
thus  described — (vide  v.  1 — 3.)  The  metaphors 
here  employed  are,  perhaps,  ihe  strongest  and  most 
striking  in  the  compass  of  the  scriptures.  The  phrase 
"Thy  neck  is  an  iron  sinew"  seems  to  refer  to  the 
rugged,  sullen,  unyielding  ox,  who,  with  indomitable 
obstinacy,  refuses  to  submit  his  neck  to  the  yoke. 
The  force  of  this  allusion  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the 
consideration  that,  whatever  may  be  the  strength  of 
the  resistance  offered  by  the  ox,  his  neck  is  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  different  tissues  and  tendons  of 
flesh,  some  of  which  may  be  compelled  to  yield  under 
a  given  force,  and  thus  lead  to  the  subjection  of  the 
whole;  whilst  the  sinner's  neck  is  represented  as 
composed  of  a  homogeneous,  hard  mass — one  consoli- 
dated sineiv  of  iron.  "  Thy  brow  brass  "  seems  to 
2 


14  SERMON  I. 

refer  to  the  metallic  cap  or  helmet  of  the  soldier, 
which  covered  his  brow  and  rendered  it  invulnera- 
ble by  the  sword  of  the  enemy.  These  are  the  meta- 
phors by  which  God  would  shadow  forth  the  resist- 
ance which  unrenewed  men  oflfer  to  the  gospel.  Now, 
if  there  be  power  in  language  or  meaning  in  meta- 
phor, when  used  by  the  Almighty,  then  our  text 
was  designed  to  teach  us  that  the  strength  of  the  sin- 
ner's resistance  to  the  gospel  is  appallingly  great! 
"Thy  neck  i&  an  iron  sinew,  and  thy  brow^  brass.'' 
Could  you  select  a  phrase  from  human  language  to 
convey  the  idea  of  an  obstinacy  and  resistance  more 
determined  and  tremendous  than  this  ?  My  dear 
impenitent  hearer,  this  is  the  language  which  God 
himself  employs  to  startle  you  to-day  at  the  thought 
of  the  awful  strength  of  your  resistance  to  the  calls 
and  offers  of  the  gospel! 

This  is  the  subject  to  which  I  would  now  crave 
your  close  and  serious  attention.  I  do  n6t  intend  to 
amuse  you,  my  hearers,  by  treating  this  subject  in 
an  abstract  and  metaphorical  manner.  This  day  and 
this  place  are  too  sacred,  and  life  is  too  short,  and 
too  serious  in  its  issues  an  eternity,  to  lose  this  op- 
portunity of  "commending  the  truth  to  every  man's 
cobscience  in  the  sight  of  God."  Forget  not  then, 
my  impenitent  hearer,  in  the  progress  of  this  dis- 
course, that  it  is  YOUR  obstinacy — the  strength  of 
YOUR  resistance  to  the  calls  and  offers  of  mercy — 
that  is  the  subject  under  consideration.  And  to  give 
you  some  idea  of  the  strength  of  this  your  resistance, 
consider, 

I.  That  it  is  a  native  and  deep-rooled  principle 
of  your  depravity,  and  not  an  incidental  or  tern- 


SERMON   I.  15 

jwrary  habit  or  tnode  of  feeling.  Men  can  be 
placed  in  circumstances  in  which  Ihey  will  feel  very 
strongly,  when  that  feeling  is  merely  the  result  of 
the  condition  in  which,  for  the  time  being,  they  are 
held.  Indeed,  the  human  mind  is  subject  to  a  num- 
ber of  incidental  impulses  from  without,  which,  for 
a  season,  may  sway  it  powerfull}".  The  struggles 
and  frenzy  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  partisans  are 
ample  proof  of  this.  But  feelings  which  are  the  re- 
sult of  mere  circumstances,  or  of  external  and  casual 
impulses,  are  necessarily  of  short  duration.  They 
disappear,  of  course,  with  the  circumstances  which 
gave  them  birth.  They  have  no  root  in  the  mind 
itself,  and  cannot  therefore  remain  and  incorporate 
themselves  with  the  very  existence  of  the  mind,  and 
"grow  with  its  growth  and  strengthen  with  its 
strength,"  and  thus  have  all  the  energy  oi  perma- 
nent principles  of  our  nature.  Now,  the  sinner's 
resistance  to  Christ  and  the  gospel  is  not  a  tempo- 
rary feeling  of  this  kind.  It  is  not  the  result  of 
mere  circumstances  or  casual  associations,  nor  the 
effect  of  an  external  and  temporary  impulse.  His 
resistance  to  the  Saviour  is  an  original  ar>d  deep- 
rooted  principle  of  his  depraved  nature.  It  is  a  part 
of  his  own  sinful  self — a  primary  element  of  his  per- 
verted moral  being.  "  For  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God,  and  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God^ 
neither,  indeed^  <:an  5e."  This  is  the  character  of 
the  sinner's  resistance!  Its  roots  have  gone  down  to 
the  very  bottom  of  his  soul,  and  draw  nourishment 
from  every  power  of  his  nature.  Carried  about  with 
him  "in  every  track  and  lane  of  life,"  and  inccs- 
santlv  fed   from  a  thousand  hidden  sources,  this  re- 


16  SERMON  I. 

sistance  of  the  sinner  has  every  facility  to  increase 
its  fearful  might  that  pertains  to  any  native  principle 
of  the  heart.  It  grows,  then,  and  ivill  grow,  till  the 
strength  of  the  oaks  of  Bashan  vvill  be  no  more  com- 
pared with  it  than  that  of  the  reed  shaken  by  the 
wind. 

II.  In  estimating  the  force  of  the  soul's  resistance 
to  Christ  and  the  gospel,  consider,  in  the  second 
place,  the  strength  which  it  has  acquired  by  exer- 
cise or  repeated  action.  In  reference  to  the  human 
body,  it  is  a  clear  and  indisputable  truth  of  physio- 
logy, that  the  great  law  of  development  and  growth 
in  all  the  corporeal  powers  is  exercise,  or  the  reite- 
rated action  of  those  powers  on  appropriate  objects. 
Were  a  child  prevented  wholly  from  ui^ing  its  arms, 
those  members  would  not  only  cease  to  grow,  but 
would  become  partly  withered.  On  the  contrary,  if 
the  pursuits  of  early  life  lead  to  the  vigorous  exer- 
cise of  these  limbs,  as  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  me- 
chanical branches,  they  will  exhibit  a  fulness  of  de- 
velopment.and  a  muscular  strength  far  greater  than 
are  found  in  persons  who  have  been  confined  to  more 
inactive  employments.  Now,  the  same  great  law 
operates  in  the  development  and  growth  of  our  intel- 
lectual faculties,  and  in  the  formation  and  force  of 
our  moral  habits.  Constant  exercise  will  give  to 
every  constitutional  susceptibility  an  incalculable 
strength.  What  made  the  difference  in  the  intel- 
lectual strength  of  Lord  Bacon  when  a  youth,  and 
no  way  distinguished  from  others  of  his  own  age 
around  him,  and,  when  more  advanced  in  life,  his 
giant  mind  grasped  in  its  potent  sweep  the  whole 
range  of  human  science,  and  pointed  out  the  method 


??EUMON  r.  17 

by  which  every  brniicli  of  it  miglilbc  canii'd  loward^-. 
perfection?  Simply  the  reiterated  action,  the  con- 
stant exercise^  to  which  he  had  patiently  disciplined 
his  mind.  How  shall  we  account  for  the  amazing 
difference  betu^een  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  mental  power 
when  playing  with  the  toys  of  boyhood,  and  when 
afterwards  he  was  found  capable  of  discovering  the 
great  law  of  gravitation — of  measuring  the  distance 
of  the  stars — and  of  almost  invading  the  prerogative 
of  the  Almighty,  by  "telling  all  their  numbers?" 
Simply  by  the  incesscmt  exercise  of  his  mental  facul- 
ties. For,  after  he  had  made  all  his  splendid  attain- 
ments, he  was  asked,  on  one  occasion,  whether  he 
was  conscious  of  possessing  any  mental  power  w^hich 
really  distinguished  him,  as  an  individual,  from  other 
men.  lie  replied  that  he  was  not,  except  it  might 
be  tlie  power  of  a  patient  and  pi'olonged  exercise  of 
his  intellectual  faculties.  Again.  What  constituted 
the  difference  between  the  strength  of  Napoleon's 
ambition  when  a  mere  subaltern  in  ti»e  army,  and 
when  afterwards,  from  the  summit  of  emj)ire,  he 
seemed  to  have  before  his  eye  Satan's  grand  pano- 
rama of  tlie  kingdonis  of  this  world  and  all  their 
glory,  and  aimed  at  nothing  short  of  these  as  the 
objects  of  his  conquests?  Obviously  the  exercise 
which  he  had  given  to  that  baleful  passion.  What 
a  gigantic  might  can  the  principles  of  our  nature  ac- 
quire merely  by  their  reiterated  action! 

Now,  the  sinner's  resistance  to  Christ  and  the  gos- 
pel has,  in  respect  to  exercise,  a  decided  advantage 
over  most  or  all  other  active  principles  of  our  na- 
ture. This  resistance  is  called  into  play  much  ear- 
lier than  were  the   intelleotual  powers  of  j'noon  or 


18  SERMON  I. 

Newton,  or  the  unhallowed  ambition  of  Bonaparte. 
Resistance  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour,  is  the  first 
moral  act  of  the  soul.     The  proof  of  this  lies  vvithin 
the  precincts  of  the  nursery.     When  maternal  love 
and  piety,  watching  the  first  buddings  of  moral  sus- 
ceptibility in  the  infant,  weep  over  it,  tell  it  the  all- 
subduing  story  of  the  cross,  pray  with  it,  and  then 
beseech  it  to  give  its  young  heart  to  Christ,  what  is 
the  result?    Does  the  child  yield  and  obey?    No!  it 
resists  that  call,  and  refuses  to  submit  to  the  Saviour. 
Beginning,  then,  thus  early j  think,  my  hearers,  how 
numerous  are  the  occasions  that  call  this  resistance 
into  action.    It  has  never  slumbered  during  one  day 
since  it  was  first  awoke  in  infancy.     For  the  mer- 
cies of  any  single  day,  if  not  resisted,  would   melt 
and  subdue  the  heart;  and  the  very  fact  that  the  sin- 
ner is  still  obstinate  and   impenitent,  is  proof  that 
those  mercies  have  been  daily  resisted.     So  have 
been  all  the  example  and  influence  of  godly  parents 
and  pious  friends — all  the  sermons  and  exhortations 
— all  the  truths  read  in  the  word  of  God— all  the 
warnings   of  Providence  —  all    the    alternations    of 
goodness  and  severity,  which  have  checkered  the 
history  of  God's  dealings  with  the  sinner  through 
the  whole  of  past  life.     Now,  what  a  vigorous  and 
incessant  play  must  the  sinner's  resistance  have  had 
to  have  effected  all  this  for  the  space  of  ten,  tvvent}^, 
thirty,  or  forty  years!     No  power  of  his  nature  has 
been  so  busily  employed.     It  has  been  exercised  till 
it  has  acquired  a  fulness  of  development  and  a  fear- 
ful force  which  God  describes  by  the  metaphor  of 
our  text — "Thy  neck  is  an  iron  sinew,  and  thy  brow 
brassy     "The  hidings  of  its  power  are  terrible!" 


SERMON  I.  19 

Musing  on  its  awful  might,  we  experience  an  emo- 
tion of  tlie  dark  and  horrible  sublime  not  unlike  that 
felt  when  we  contemplate  the  mysterious,  supernatu- 
ral energies  of  "  the  Prince  of  the  power  of  the  air" 
himself. 

III.  To  enhance  our  ideas  of  its  strength,  consi- 
der, in  the  third  place,  the  means  of  augmenting 
and  fortifying  his  resistance  to  Chinst  by  which 
the  sinner  is  surrounded.  It  must  have  occurred  to 
every  reflecting  mind,  that  the  whole  subverted  order 
of  things  brought  in  upon  our  world  by  the  apostacy 
of  Adam  tends  directly,  in  all  its  details,  to  strengthen 
this  resistance.  When  the  sinner  is  young,  and  the 
principle  of  imitation  acts  most  vigorously,  what  a 
means  of  increasing  this  resistance  does  he  have  in 
the  iingodlij  example  of  his  superiors  in  age.  In 
society  there  are  never  wanting  some,  either  parents 
or  others,  who,  by  their  example,  tread  in  upon  the 
young  mind  the  lesson  of  neglect  of  God,  and  resist- 
ance to  Christ  and  the  gospel.  They  tutor  it  to  prac- 
tise its  neck  to  refuse  the  yoke,  and  teach  it  how  to 
make  it  become  an  iron  sinew.  Again:  as  the  sin- 
ner arrives  at  that  period  of  life  when  the  desire  for 
society  is  strongest,  what  a  means  to  increase  and 
fortify  his  resistance  does  ungodly  youthful  compa- 
nionship afford.  Ah!  this  resistance  in  the  soul  of 
the  young  man  finds  abundant  congeniality  and  con- 
firmation from  the  great  majority  of  youtii  around 
him.  It  does  not  render  him  singular,  and  cause 
him  to  be  avoided.  Nay,  it  is  one  of  the  points  of 
strongest  attraction  to  his  wicked  companions. 

There  is  also  an  ingenious  array  o^  youthful  plea- 
sures  presented  to  allure  the  young  mind,  and  greatly 


20  SERMON  I. 

increase  its  reluctance  to  yield  to  the  claims  of  Christ. 
Indeed,  his  resistance  has  the  advantage  of  connect- 
ing its  power  with  the  entire  force  of  that  current  of 
gayety  and  youthful  mirth,  which  is  becoming  more 
and  more  strong  and  resistless  as  society  advances. 
And  in  addition  to  this,  he  has  the  whole  array  of 
j'outhful  passions  within  him,  in  the  very  spring- 
time and  hey-day  of  their  violent  and  tumultuous 
excitability,  ready  on  all  occasions  to  add  their  united 
power  to  the  strength  of  his  resistance  to  the  gospel. 
When  the  sinner  arrives  at  manhood  and  middle  age, 
then  what  means  of  increasing  and  fortifying  his  ob- 
stinate refusal  of  the  offers  of  mercy  are  furnished 
him  by  the  crowded  cares  of  this  period — b}^  the 
cravings  of  avarice  and  the  calculations  of  an  absorb- 
ing selfishness — by  the  hurry,  and  bustle,  and  com- 
petitions of  the  road  to  wealth — by  the  temptations 
to  overreaching  and  dishonesty,  in  the  great  haste  to 
be  rich.  What  a  powerful  re-enforcement  are  all 
these  to  the  strength  of  the  sinner's  resistance  to  the 
gospel! 

Even  in  old  age,  when  there  are  no  longer  any 
appliances  for  increasing  the  bodily  or  intellectual 
strength,  the  sinner  finds  ample  means  to  augment 
and  fortify  his  opposition  to  the  Saviour.  For  then 
he  has  the  power  of  early  associations  and  long 
cherished  habits  of  resistance.  He  has,  also,  either 
the  moroseness  of  disappointment  or  the  intoxication 
of  success  in  the  pursuits  of  a  long  life,  or  his  physi- 
cal energies  are  so  far  wasted  that  he  has  the  timidity, 
the  irresolution,  the  despondency  and  decrepitude  of 
age,  all  concurring  to  add  a  new  power  of  resistance 
to  God  and  his  gospel.     Whilst,  in  his  physical  con- 


SERMON   I.  21 

stitution,  the  aged  sinner  is  but  the  mere  wreck  of 
what  he  once  was,  yet  out  of  this  weakness  liis  re- 
sistance waxes  strong,  and  flourishes  from  the  very 
decay  going  on  around  its  roots! 

Now,  contemplate  this  array  of  means  for  in- 
creasing and  fortifying  the  sinner's  opposition — an 
array  stretching  along  the  whole  line  of  his  exist- 
ence, and  pressing  in  from  both  sides  of  his  guilty 
pathway,  to  aid  him  in  his  every  act  of  rejecting 
offered  mercy — and  say,  my  hearers,  what  must  be 
the  strength  of  his  resistance,  when  aided  and  upheld 
by  so  mighty  a  combination  of  forces!  Without  ex- 
aggeration, we  may  ap])ly  to  it  the  inspired  descrip- 
tion of  a  demoniac  of  old — "  And  no  man  could  bind 
him;  no,  not  with  chains:  neither  could  any  man 
tame  him!"  The  sinner's  resistance  has  a  strength 
tliat  vvill  break  away  from  every  thing  but  the  '^ever- 
lasting chains"  of  God's  omnipotence! 

IV.  The  great  strength  of  the  sinner's  resistance 
to  Christ  and  the  gospel  may  be  judged  of  by  the 
powerful  motives  which  it  successfully  withstands. 
The  best  way  to  test  the  real  strength  of  any  prin- 
ciple is  to  see  what  given  force  it  can  overcome. 
But  how  shall  we  compute  the  power  of  those  innu- 
merable motives  which  God  presents  to  disarm  the 
sinner  of  his  rebellion,  and  which  the  sinner  success- 
fully resists?  Who  can  calculate  the  moral  force  of 
the  appeal  which  God's  goodness  makes  to  every 
human  heart?  A  goodness  that  stands  confessed  in 
the  organization  of  ever}^  atom  that  composes  the 
material  creation.  Earth,  air,  ocean;  the  skies,  with 
their  commingling  light  and  glory,  eloquent  of  the 
infinite  goodness  of  Jehovah!     Day  unto  day  utter- 


22  SERMON  I. 

ing  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showing  knowledge 
of  Him;  their  voice  going  out  into  all  the  earth,  and 
their  words  to  the  ends  of  the  world,  to  melt  the 
hearts  of  sinners.  But  their  resistance  is  strong 
enough  to  withstand  this  motive.  God  appeals,  also, 
to  the  sinner  in  that  goodness  which  is  directed  to- 
vs^ards  him  as  an  individual,  and  is  employed  spe- 
cially in  prolonging  his  life  and  crowning  his  earthly 
allotment  with  innumerable  blessings.  That  good- 
ness which  is  daily  protecting  him  from  unnumbered 
dangers,  known  and  unknown — which  is  pouring  oil 
and  wine  into  the  inevitable  wounds  of  his  present 
condition — which  is  employing  a  watchful  and  inces- 
sant agency  on  the  springs  of  life  itself,  and  holding 
in  harmonious  action  all  the  parts  of  the  vital  ma- 
chinery; a  goodness  which  is  commissioning  a  thou- 
sand messengers  on  errands  of  kindness  to  the  sin- 
ner every  moment.  Vet  that  sinner  has  a  resistance 
strong  enough  to  spurn  this  munificent  hand  that  has 
been  ever  full  of  bounties  for  him  individually,  and 
4o  cast  indignit}^  in  the  very  face  of  that  infinite  be- 
nevolence which  has  been  shining  and  smiling  on 
him,  notwithstanding  his  reckless  ingratitude.  How 
strong  must  that  resistance  be!  But  to  the  sinner 
God  makes  another  and  more  tender  appeal.  He 
invites  that  sinner  to  come  up  to  Calvary,  and  com- 
mune with  Him  respecting  the  things  that  happened 
there,  and  to  contemplate  the  sublime  and  melan- 
choly glories  of  the  cross.  There,  in  the  eloquence 
of  eternal  love,  God  speaks  out  his  heart  to  the  sin- 
ner. "This  is  my  beloved  Son.''  See  him,  with 
a  countenance  still  deeply  shaded  with  that  sorrow- 
fulness of  soul  which  he  had  in  Gethsemane;  see  the 


SERMON  I.  S3 

great  sweat  of  his  ao;ony  not  yet  dried  from  his  brow; 
behold  the  marks  of  his  buffeting  and  scourginj:;,  till 
you  might  tell  all  his  bones;  see  the  crown  of  thorns 
beaten  into  his  sacred  temples  by  blows  of  mob-vio- 
lence; see  those  hands  that  stretched  out  and  gar- 
nished the  heavens,  and  those  feet,  that  shone  on 
Tabor's  top  and  trod  celestial  worlds,  now  nailed  to 
the  ignominious  cross:  hear,  oh  hear  him  exclaim, 
in  the  eloquence  of  dying  love  and  sorrow,  "My 
God,  my  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me!''  Sin- 
ner, this  is  my  beloved  Son!  I  freely  gave  him 
up  to  all  this  for  you.  This  is  the  splendid  offering 
which  my  eternal  mercy  made  for  your  redemp- 
tion! My  only  begotten,  well  beloved  Son,  endured 
all  this,  and  hidden  woes  of  the  soul  that  mortals 
cannot  know — he  prayed  and  wept,  and  bled  and 
died,  and  rose  and  reigns  on  high,  that  you  might 
be  saved — that  yoii  might  have  pardon,  and  peace, 
and  hope,  and  joy  here  in  this  present  life,  and  ex- 
ultations, and  triumph,  and  transports  of  bliss  unut- 
terable in  the  life  to  come!  "This  is  my  beloved 
Son!"  Sinner,  will  you  hear  him?  But  lo!  the 
sinner  has  a  strength  of  resistance  which  enables  him 
to  turn  coldly  away  from  Calvar}'',  his  countenance 
unmoved  as  marble,  his  heart  hard  as  adamant! 

God  has  also,  in  his  retributive  visitations  in  the 
present  world,  addressed  powerful  motives  to  the 
fears  of  the  sinner.  He  has  made  "  his  pavilion 
round  about  him  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of 
the  sky."  He  has  "  revealed  his  wrath  from  hea- 
ven against  all  unrighteousness  and  ungodliness  of 
men."  More  than  once  has  he  darkened  our  world 
with  the  frown  of  his  indignation  against  sin!     In 


24  SERMON  I. 

the  woes  of  the  great  overthrow  in  Eden — in  the 
rush  and  the  roar  of  those  blending  streams  of  hea- 
ven and  earth  that  destroyed  the  old  world — in  the 
lightnings  and  earthquake  that  subverted  the  cities 
of  Sodom's  plain — in  the  biography  of  sinning  and 
suffering  Israel — in  the  pestilence,  and  famine,  and 
sword — in  all  the  national  and  individual  disaster 
and  catastrophe  that  have  filled  the  entire  history 
of  the  world,  God  has  appealed  to  the  sinner's  fears, 
and  warned  him  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come! 
And  yet  his  resistance  is  strong  enough  to  brave 
these  terrors  and  withstand  this  appeal.  In  the 
alarms  of  his  providence,  also,  God  may  have  ad- 
dressed the  sinner  personally.  In  the  repeated  vi- 
sitations of  death  he  may  have  wrested  from  that 
sinner  one  and  another,  and  another  of  his  relatives 
and  friends,  till  his  bereaved  and  bleeding  heart 
knows  not  where  to  turn  for  respite  from  its  multi- 
plied sorrows.  Yea,  the  hand  of  God  may  have 
been  laid  on  the  sinner  himself,  and  have  held  him 
suspended  as  by  a  hair  over  the  grave  and  eternity. 
Thus,  in  every  badge  of  mourning  he  has  worn — - 
from  every  opening  tomb  over  which  he  has  bent — 
in  every  pain  of  body  which  he  has  endured — in  all 
the  hidden  anguish  of  mind  that  has  ever  been  his — 
in  all  the  sobs,  and  sighs,  and  tears,  and  groans,  and 
final  farewells  of  the  death-scenes  he  has  witnessed, 
the  eternal  God  has  warned  him  of  the  consequences 
of  sin,  and  presented  motives  to  his  fears;  but  the 
sinner's  resistance  has  been  sufficiently  strong  to 
defy  them  all! 

Not  only  has  God  brought  to  bear  upon  the  sin- 
ner powerful  motives  from  the  past  and  the  present, 


SERMON  I.  25 

but  also  from  the  future.  Jehovah  has  drawn  aside 
that  mysterious  curtain  which  conceals  the  world  to 
come.  He  has  opened  heaven  to  the  sinner's  hope. 
A  heaven  of  deep  and  unending  repose;  an  eternal 
heaven  of  sinless  purity — of  deathless  joys — of  un- 
speakable triumphs  of  the  intellect  and  the  heart  in 
all  knowledge,  holiness,  and  bliss  for  ever!  God 
offers  it  as  the  immortal  inheritance  of  the  sinner's 
soul.  He  calls  upon  him  to  catch  the  inspiration 
of  its  shouts  of  victory;  to  feel  the  divine  charm  of 
its  harps  and  its  song,  and  the  diviner  transports  of 
its  grand  hallelujah  chorus  to  God  and  the  Lamb. 
And  behold,  so  strong  is  the  sinner's  resistance  that 
he  can  close  his  eyes  on  heaven's  visions  of  glory, 
and  turn  the  deafness  of  the  adder's  ears  to  all  the 
wooing  strains  of  its  celestial  voices! 

To  ply  his  fears,  God  has  also  revealed  a  future 
hell  to  the  sinner.  A  hell  of  deep  and  agitating 
turmoil  and  storms;  an  endless  hell  of  perfected  de- 
pravity— of  unspeakable  bursts  of  lawless  passions — 
of  uncaged  and  untameable  malignity — of  undying 
woes — of  unpitied  wailing — of  moans  of  eternal 
agony,  that  will  rend  its  gloomy  atmosphere  and 
reverberate  through  its  deep  caverns  of  despair 
while  immortality  rolls  on!  God  assures  the  sin- 
ner that,  continuing  impenitent,  this  shall  be  the 
everlasting  portion  of  his  cup.  He  calls  upon  the 
sinner  j:o  tremble  as  he  sees  the  smoke  of  its  tor- 
ments ascending  and  darkening  his  horizon,  and 
hears  the  loud  wail  of  the  lost,  warning  him  of  his 
approaching  doom  !  And  yet  the  sinner  has  a  power 
of  resistance  that  enables  him  to  laugh  at  these  ter- 
rors of  the  Almighty!  "Fools  make  a  mock  at 
3 


26  SERMON  I. 

sin."  And  happy  will  it  be  for  some  of  you,  my 
youthful  hearers,  if  you  have  not  already  learned  to 
sport  with  the  thought  of  perdition,  and  to  treat  as 
a  jest  the  tremendous  realities  of  an  eternal  hell! 
Oh,  what  manner  of  resistance  is  this!  Contem- 
plate for  a  moment,  by  recapitulation,  the  motives 
which  it  withstands:  motives  that  commence  with 
time,  and  combine  the  urgency  of  all  the  judgments 
and  all  the  mercies  that  constitute  the  sum  of  God's 
administration  over  the  world;  motives  that  reach 
into  eternity,  and  compass  all  the  joys  of  the  re- 
deemed and  all  the  woes  of  the  damned!  Look  at 
the  sinner,  begirded  with  all  the  motives  which 
time  and  eternity,  heaven,  earth,  and  hell  can  bind 
round  him — and,  superadded  to  all  these,  the  power 
of  conscience  and  the  strivings  of  the  Holy  Ghost — • 
and  behold  him,  in  the  strength  of  his  resistance  to 
Christ,  break  them  all  asunder,  as  did  Samson  the 
green  withes  from  his  arms,  and  arise  and  shake 
them  from  him  as  the  lion  does  the  dew-drops  from 
his  mane  in  the  morning! 

What  think  you  now,  my  dear  hearers,  of  the 
strength  of  this  resistance,  as  measured  by  the  num- 
ber and  power  of  the  motives  which  it  successfully 
withstands.  It  is  pre-eminently  the  most  awful 
energy  that  pertains  to  human  nature.  It  is  the 
very  aggregation  of  all  the  tremendous  forces  of 
man's  depraved  being! 

V.  We  may  learn  something  more  of  the  strength 
of  this  resistance  by  contemplating  the  nature  op 
THE  AGENT  that  exevcises  it. 

It  is  not  a  blind,  but  all-conquering  might,  such 
as  paganism  and  infidelity  attribute  to  the  decrees 


SERMON  r.  27 

of  an  Immutable  fate.  It  is  the  purposed,  deliberate 
resistance  of  intelligent,  immortal  mind.  But, 
with  what  forces  in  nature  shall  we  compare  mind? 
When  witnessing  the  action  of  the  great  agencies  of 
matter,  we  are  often  filled  with  amazement  at  their 
energies.  The  might  of  the  billows  of  ocean — the 
resistless  sweep  of  the  tornado — the  destructive  vio- 
lence of  fire — the  terrific  power  of  steam,  and  the 
almost  omnipotence  of  the  volcano  and  the  light- 
ning, though  they  be  mere  blind,  material  agents, 
can  never  be  contemplated  without  a  feeling  of  op- 
pressive sublimity,  and  a  deep  impression  of  the 
"  thunder  of  God's  power"  as  the  Creator.  But  we 
approach  the  contemplation  of  man's  intelligent,  im- 
mortal spirit,  and  find  that  its  power,  though  of  ano- 
ther kind,  rises  above  the  agencies  of  matter.  It 
spurns  all  the  brute  force  which  they  wield,  and  by 
its  own  superior  energies  of  thought  and  will,  dis- 
covers the  laws  which  regulate  these  mighty  agen- 
cies, and  makes  many  of  them  subservient  to  its 
own  convenience  and  comfort. 

It  is  the  power  of  mind  that  has  enabled  man  to 
yoke  the  winds  to  his  gallant  sail;  to  lay  his  fear- 
less hand  on  the  curling  mane  of  ocean,  and  ride  in 
safety  and  triumph  over  its  topmost  wave!  It  is 
this  which  has  enabled  him  to  chain  the  hissing 
steam  to  the  car,  and  transport  himself  over  land 
with  the  speed  of  a  bird  of  the  air.  It  was  this 
which  enabled  a  Franklin  to  pluck  the  plume  of  his 
fame  from  the  lightning's  wing  unharmed  by  its 
deadly  bolt,  and  a  Morse  to  lay  his  message  on  that 
wing,  for  an  almost  instantaneous  transmission  round 
the  globe! 


2S  SERMON  I. 

And  then  let  us  look  back  over  the  history  of  the 
world,  at  the  trophies  of  art  and  science  which  mind 
has  reared.  What  stupendous  monuments  of  its 
power  stand  along  the  track  of  past  ages.  Look  at 
the  sway  which  certain  minds  have  held  over  earth's 
millions,  century  after  century.  What  a  tremen- 
dous impression  of  their  existence  and  character 
have  they  stamped  in  on  their  own  generation,  and 
the  generations  following.  Look  over  the  earth  at 
present,  on  all  the  recent  discoveries  in  the  arts  and 
sciences — on  the  modifications  and  revolutions  of 
human  governments — on  the  march  and  daily  tri- 
umphs of  civilization — on  the  great  enterprises  of 
benevolence,  and  the  propagation  of  Christianity. 
What  mighty  power  is  this  that  is  spreading  out  its 
impulses  over  this  busy  creation,  and  moving  and 
heaving  its  masses  of  bustling  activity  ?  It  is  the 
power  of  intelligent,  immortal  mind.  A  power  that 
can  soar  above  this  nether  world,  and,  making  the 
heavens  its  observatory,  discover  new  worlds  in  the 
far  ofif  realms  of  space,  and  travel  in  thought  through 
the  circuit  of  the  universe.  What  amazing  energies 
does  mind  possess!  And  yet  the  present  life  is  but 
the  morning  hour  of  its  existence,  and  all  these 
monuments  of  its  power  which  fill  the  earth,  but 
the  mere  toys  which  it  has  made  on  the  play-ground 
of  its  infancy!  For  mind  has  the  germ  of  powers 
that  are  yet  to  be  evolved  in  its  immortal  manhood, 
compared  with  which  its  present  capacities  are  per- 
fectly infantile.  Powers  that  are  to  be  waked  and 
energised,  and  taxed  with  intense  action,  either  in 
the  employments  of  heaven  or  the  struggles  of  hell, 
long  ages  after  all  the  mightiest  agencies  of  matter 
shall  have  worn  themselves  out  and  ceased  to  be! 


SERMON  I.  29 

Now,  my  hearers,  this,  this  is  the  nature  of  the 
agent  that  resists  Christ  and  the  gospel.  Oh,  vvhat 
must  the  strength  of  that  resistance  be!  <' Thou, 
God,  only  knowest!"  We  know  that  such  a  resist- 
ance the  Son  of  God  never  met  with  from  the  laws 
and  agencies  of  matter.  When  the  winds  and  the 
waves  combined  tlieir  tumultuating  violence  to  de- 
stroy the  frail  bark  that  bore  his  disciples  on  the 
sea  of  Galilee,  he  had  but  to  say,  "  Peace,  be  still," 
and  immediately  there  was  a  great  calm.  When 
disease  seized  its  subject,  and  commenced  its  subtle, 
insidious  task  of  disorganizing  the  wonderful  frame- 
work of  the  body,  he  had  but  to  speak  the  word, 
and  the  patient  was  restored  to  perfect  health. 
When  death  itself  had  severed  the  silver  cord,  and 
the  grave  had  set  up  its  dark  dominion  over  an  in- 
dividual, he  had  but  to  proclaim,  "Lazarus,  come 
forth,"  and  the  man  was  before  him,  full  of  life. 
But  when,  in  the  voice  of  love  and  mercy,  he  calls 
to  the  immortal  mind  in  its  fortified  resistance,  he 
calls  in  vain.  That  mind  returns  no  answer!  When 
he  asks  the  wounded,  bleeding  sinner,  "  Wilt  thou 
be  made  whole?"  that  sinner  maintains  the  sullen 
silence  of  spiritual  death.  When  he  says  to  the  la- 
bouring and  heavy  laden,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest,"  the  resistance  of  the  sinner 
holds  him  firm  and  motionless  as  a  brazen  colossus! 
Wliy  is  this?  It  is  because  it  is  the  resistance  of 
intelligent,  voluntary  mind.  It  is  the  awful  per- 
version of  the  sinner's  power  as  a  free  moral  agent; 
whose  nature  is  such  that  it  is  not  consistent  for  God 
himself  to  exercise  any  species  of  physical  force 
upon  it.  It  is  llio  resistance  of  a  nature  made  but  a 
3* 


30  SERMON  I. 

little  lower  than  the  angels;  of  a  mind  created  in 
the  image  of  its  God,  and  decreed  to  immortality! 
A  resistance  that  has  all  the  strength  of  those  mar- 
shalled forces  of  the  undying  soul  which  will  wage 
war  upon  God,  and  grapple  with  damnation  through 
eternal  ages! 


We  see  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place,  the 
absolute  necessity  of  the  Holy  Spirit^ s  influences 
for  the  conversion  of  souls. 

Contemplate  the  strength  of  the  sinner's  resistance 
to  Christ  and  the  gospel  as  now  presented,  and  judge 
for  yourselves,  my  hearers,  whether  there  be  any- 
mere  means  or  instrumentality  apart  from  a  divine 
influence  that  will  ever  overcome  that  resistance. 
The  strong  man  armed  is  in  his  palace,  keeping  his 
goods  in  peace,  and  he  smiles  in  Satanic  scorn  at 
the  puny  force  of  all  the  mere  means  that  can  be 
brought  to  dispossess  him  and  spoil  his  house.  He 
.knows  the  strength  of  his  resistance.  He  knows 
that  it  has  coped,  successfully,  with  the  entire  array 
of  motives  that  creation,  providence,  and  grace,  the 
past,  present,  and  future  can  present.  And,  espe- 
cially, after  being  strong  enough  to  carry  him  head- 
long in  his  rebellion  and  impenitence  over  the  sum- 
mit of  Calvary,  trampling  under  foot  the  Son  of 
God  in  his  suffering  and  glory — blinding  his  eyes, 
and  deafening  his  ears,  to  the  sights  and  sounds  there 
revealed,  and  steeling  his  heart  against  the  pleadings 
of  all  the  love,  and  all  the  wo,  of  the  crucifixion, 
what  hope  is  there  for  the  soul's  salvation,  even  in 
the  might  of  an  angel's  arm  !  How  idle  to  talk  of 
moral  suasion,  and  the  adaptation  and  power  of  mere 
truth,  to   conquer  this  resistance.     ^^  Leviathan  is 


SERMON   I.  31 

not  so  /a??ied.-'  Tlic  brow  of  brass  droops  not;  tlie 
iron  sinew  bends  not  beneath  any  force  less  than  the 
moral  omnipotence  of  the  Holy  Ghost!  Every 
other  influence  in  the  universe  will  fail  to  disarm 
him  of  his  enmity,  and  to  prostrate  the  sinner's  re- 
sistance to  Christ  and  the  gospel.  My  dear,  im- 
penitent hearer,  the  sooner  you  are  convinced  of 
this,  the  better.  Your  voluntary  resistance  to  the 
Saviour  has  acquired  such  a  strength  as  to  render 
the  work  of  your  redemption  no  trivial  affair.  You 
are  completely  dependent  on  the  sovereign  mercy 
of  an  offended  God,  and  on  the  direct  and  efficient 
influences  of  the  aggrieved,  insulted.  Spirit  of  grace, 
for  your  salvation.  You  have  destroyed  yourself 
absolutely.  If  there  be  any  help  for  you,  it  is  in 
God  ONLY.  It  is  in  that  "exceeding  great  power 
by  which  He  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead!"  0! 
in  what  a  terrible  condition  are  you  placed  by  the 
strength  of  your  resistance  to  the  Lord  that  bought 
you!!  Why  is  it  that  you  do  not  so  realize  this, 
your  forlorn  state,  as  to  throw  yourself  immediately 
on  the  arm  of  Almighty  God  for  deliverance!  My 
dear  Christian  friends,  7/oic  ought  to  be  deeply  con- 
vinced, also,  that  the  Holy  Spirit's  influences  are 
the  only  ground  of  hope  that  sinners  will  be  saved. 
You  know  that  it  is  no  exaggerated  picture  of  the 
strength  of  their  resistance,  which  I  have  now  pre- 
sented. And  if  sinners  will  still  sleep  on  under  this 
fearful  representation,  do  you  take  the  alarm  for 
them.  They  will  certainly  be  lost,  and  t/ou  know 
ity  unless  the  Holy  Spirit  be  poured  out  upon  them 
from  on  high.  0,  then,  fly  to  your  closets,  to  your 
family  altars,  and  to  the  social  prayer  meeting,  and 


32  SERMON  I. 

"being  in  an  agony,"  in  view  of  their  condition, 
"pray  the  more  earnestly,"  that  God  would  send 
those  all-conquering  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
without  which,  they  will  resist  the  Lord  Jesus  till 
the  last,  and  sink  in  a  hopeless  perdition! 

Finally.  This  subject  shows  us  the  folly  and 
madness  of  putting  off  the  work  of  salvation  to 
some  future  period. 

What  is  it,  my  ungodly  hearer,  that  has  kept  you 
thus  long  without  an  interest  in  Christ,  and  peace 
with  God?  Simply  the  strength  of  your  resist- 
ance to  Christ  and  his  gospel.  Nothing  else,  what- 
ever, has  been  in  your  way.  This  is  the  obstacle  to 
your  being  reconciled  to  God  now.  And,  we  have 
seen,  that  this  your  resistance  is  receiving  fresh  ac- 
cessions of  strength  by  exercise,  and  by  the  various 
means  of  fortifying  it,  every  hour  that  )^ou  live.  It 
has  been,  and  is  now,  strong  enough  to  break  away 
from  the  influence  of  all  the  motives  past,  present, 
and  future,  that  God  has  brought  to  bear  upon  you! 
And  yet  you  are  putting  off*  the  work  of  repentance, 
submission,  and  faith,  to  some  future  period,  with 
the  hope  that  it  will  be  easier  io  perform  them  then, 
when  that  resistance  which  is  sufficiently  strong  to 
prevent  you  from  doing  the  work  now,  will  then 
have  an  indefinitely  augmented  power ! !  0 !  what 
consummate  folly !  what  egregious  madness! !  What 
would  you  think  of  an  individual  who  at  present 
was  bound  with  a  chain  which  he  was  required  to 
break,  but  which  he  felt  to  be  already  so  strong  as 
to  incline  him  to  procrastinate  the  effort;  and  yet, 
every  day  that  he  delayed,  another  chain  of  equal  or 
greater  strength,  would  be  wound  about  him.     Sup- 


SERMON  I.  33 

pose  you  saw  him,  as  chain  after  chain  was  added 
by  his  delay,  still  looking  onward  to  a  more  distant 
period  in  the  future,  when  he  hoped  it  would  be 
easier  to  break  their  combined  power,  and  make  his 
escape.  You  would  pronounce  him  a  madman. — 
A  worse  madness  than  this  is  in  the  heart  of  the  sin- 
ner, who,  from  ten  thousand  sources,  every  day  is 
feeding  the  strength  of  his  resistance  to  Christ,  and 
yet  putting  off  the  hour  of  his  submission,  with  the 
hope  that  hereafter  his  reluctance  to  yield  to  God 
will  be  less!  Deluded  mortal!  He  is  under  the 
charm  of  the  Old  Serpent,  who  has  gotten  him  with- 
in his  elastic  folds ;  and  while  the  sinner  delays  re- 
pentance, Satan  lays  around  his  ruined  soul,  another 
and  another  snaky  coil,  till  his  whole  length  will  at 
last  be  expended,  and  then  he  will  tighten  those 
coils,  till  bound  hand  and  foot,  the  sinner  will  find 
himself  the  unresisting  victim  of  eternal  death  !! — 
Yes,  ye  delaying  hearers,  in  the  light  of  this  sub- 
ject, you  can  see  the  guilty  hopelessness  of  procras- 
tination. It  is  highly  probable  you  will  perish  for 
ever!  ^lillions  under  the  gospel,  who  have  trod- 
den before  you  in  this  path  of  criminal  procrasti- 
nation, have,  ere  they  were  aware,  found  their  bands 
made  strong  upon  them,  and  been  delivered  over  to 
the  judge,  and  the  judge  has  cast  them  into  the  pri- 
son of  everlasting  despair.  Now  you  are  pursuing 
precisely  the  same  course,  and  what  shall  hinder 
you  from  sharing  the  same  awful  destiny  !  How 
heart-rending  the  thought  that  the  impenitent  ?/oz///i, 
as  well  as  older  transgressors  here  to-day,  are  hur- 
rying on  in  this  course,  and  hastening  to  this  tre- 
mendous doom  !     0,  God  of  mercy  !  arrest  them — 


34  SERMON  I. 


O,  Thou  bleeding  Lamb  of  God,  interpose  to  save 
them — Holy  Spirit  come,  0,  come,  and  conquer 
their  resistance  before  it  bring  upon  them  the  bitter 
pangs  of  the  second  death. 


SERMON  II.  35 


SERMON    II 


"  Come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good ;  for  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  good  concerning  Israel." — Numbers  x.  29. 

Sincere  piety  is  essentially  benevolent.  Its  en- 
lire  spirit  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  contracted, 
calculating,  and  selfish  temper  of  the  world.  It 
aims  at  the  widest  possible  diffusion  of  its  high  pri- 
vileges and  spiritual  blessings.  Like  its  divine  Au- 
thor, the  religion  of  the  gospel  delights  in  the  com- 
munication of  happiness.  And  those  whose  piety 
consists  wholly  in  a  formal  round  of  duties  performed 
under  the  lash  of  a  slavish  fear  and  the  stimulus  of 
a  selfish  hope,  ought  to  suspect  their  spiritual  state, 
and  to  know  that  theirs  is  not  the  pure  and  un- 
defiled  religion  of  the  Bible.  It  is  not  the  kind  of 
piety  which  Moses  exhibits  in  our  text.  In  the 
midst  of  the  journeyings  of  the  camp,  and  over- 
whelmed as  he  was  with  the  fatigues,  the  cares,  the 
perplexities  and  responsibilities  of  his  office  as  the 
leader  of  Israel,  his  pious  solicitude  for  Hobab,  his 
brother-in-law,  breaks  out  in  the  tender  and  touch- 
ing invitation — "  Come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will 
do  thee  good."  That  this  is  not  a  mere  invitation 
to  Hobab  to  become  a  civil  member  of  the  Hebrew 
commonwealth,  and  to  participate  only  in  its  tempo- 
ral blessings,  is  obvious  from  tiic  words  that  immedi- 
ately follow — '^  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  good  con- 


36  SERMON  11. 

cerning  Israel."  It  was  the  spiritual  blessings  se- 
cured in  the  covenant  with  Abraham— the  instruc- 
tion of  inspired  prophets — the  promises  of  a  Mes- 
siah, protection  from  the  idolatrous  corruptions  of 
the  world — divine  guidance  in  the  moral  pilgrimage 
to  eternity,  shadowed  forth  by  the  pillar  of  cloud 
and  of  fire  that  went  before  them  in  the  wilderness, 
and  divine  influence  to  fit  for  that  heavenly  Canaan 
of  which  the  earthly  was  a  type, — these  constituted 
the  good  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  concerning 
Israel,  and  in  which  Moses  devoutly  desired  that  his 
brother-in-law  might  participate.  Were  we  to  judge 
by  the  conduct  of  the  great  majority  of  mankind,  we 
would  suppose  that  it  was  disadvantageous,  if  not 
disastrous,  \o  be  connected  with  the  church  of  God. 
Worldly  men  avoid  her  communion,  as  though  it 
would  do  them  evil,  and  not  good,  to  have  their  allot- 
ment within  her  sacred  pale.  But  our  text  falsifies 
this  practical  sentiment  of  the  ungodly,  and  indicates 
directly  that  there  are  great  advantages  in  a  siiicere 
cordial  connexion  with  the  people  of  God.  "  Come 
thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good,  for  the  Lord 
hath  spoken  good  concerning  Israel."  This  is  the 
language  we  would  address  to  our  friends  and  rela- 
tives who  are  out  of  Christ — to  all  who  are  aliens 
from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel.  True,  we  are  in 
the  wilderness,  but  the  bright  cloud  of  Jehovah's  pre- 
sence is  with  us,  and  we  are  journeying  to  the  celes- 
tial Canaan,  the  Mount  Zion  above,  under  a  divine, 
an  almighty  convoy.  "Come  with  us,  and  we  will 
do  thee  good."  Now,  if  you  will  cordially  accept 
this  invitation,  and  voluntarily  and  sincerely  connect 
yourselves  with  God's  spiritual  Israel,  then  I  will 


SERMON   II.  37 

endeavour  in  the  following  particulars,  to  show  you 
the  advantages  of  such  a  connexion. 

1.  You  will  have  the  advantage  of  being  connect- 
ed with  a  community  luho  have  fixed  priiicipleSj 
and  may  he  trusted.  No  man  is  safe  in  associating 
with,  and  becoming  a  member  of  a  community  whose 
principles  d^re.  fluctuating  or  doubtful. 

And  no  combination  of  unregenerate  men  ever 
were,  or  ever  will  be,  governed  by  stable  and  unal- 
terable principles.     The  commercial,  and  especially 
the  political  history,  of  the  last  fifteen  years,  amply 
attest  the  truth  of  this  declaration.     Most  worldly 
men  have  so  pliant  a  virtue,  that  principles  with  them 
will   yield  to  party  and  self-interest,   and  as  these 
latter  are  often  shifting,  so  the  former  must  undergo 
a  corresponding  change.     A  change  in  political  ma- 
jorities, a  preponderance  on  this  side  or  that,  of  the 
great  balance  of  popular  sentiment,  a  change  in  the 
currents  of  commerce  or  manufactures,  the   siiifting 
breath  of  public  opinion,  are  producing  constant  fluc- 
tuations in  the  principles  which  sway  worldly  men. 
Of  what  advantage  are  the  friendship,  the  patronage, 
and  proffered  favours  of  a  community  with  such  fickle 
and   mutable  principles?     Who  would  trust  such  a 
community,  or  feel  himself  safe  for  an  hour,  unless, 
indeed, he  hadakindof  prophetic  prescience,  by  which 
he  could  foresee  the  evil  of  the  coming  change,  and 
thus  avoid    it — and  this  is  the  reason   why  wicked 
men  exercise  so  little  real  confidence  in  each  other, 
l^ut  the  true  spiritual  Israel,  are  a  community  with 
fixed  principles.     In  the  church  of  God,  notwith- 
standing its  hypocrites  and  formalists,  we  can  find  the 
sway  of  the  higher  and  nobler  principles  of  human 
4 


3S  SERMON  II. 

nature,  stable  and  permanent.  Their  principles  are 
not  derived  from  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
world,  are  not  connected  merely  with  selfish  inte- 
rests, and  sensual  earthly  policy,  and  are  therefore  not 
subject  to  the  fitful  shiftings  of  such  interests  and 
policy.  The  principles  of  the  household  of  faith, 
the  great  spiritual  commonwealth  of  Israel,  are  de- 
rived from  heaven.  The  laws  of  moral  honesty, 
the  laws  of  truth,  the  laws  of  strict  distributive  jus- 
tice, the  laws  of  benevolence,  and  the  statutes  regu- 
lating social  intercourse,  and  prescribing  social  duties, 
which  are  found  in  the  Bible ;  these  constitute  the 
great  code,  the  common  law  of  the  spiritual  com- 
munity:— a  code  with  an  authority  divine,  with  a 
sanction  solemn  and  weighty,  as  the  awards  of  eterni- 
ty. These  laws  are  transcribed  by  the  finger  of  God, 
not  on  the  cold  tables  of  stone  in  the  unrenewed 
understanding,  but  on  the  fleshly  tables  of  the  re- 
generated hearts  of  his  people.  These  form  the 
high  and  commanding  principles  which  govern  "the 
Israel  of  God;"  principles  founded  on  the  eternal 
and  immutable  basis  of  right,  reaching  from  the 
throne  of  God,  and  anchored  immoveably  in  the  re- 
generated moral  nature  of  man.  They  are  by  ne- 
cessity, then,  fixed,  stable  principles.  Let  the 
world  calumniate  sincere  Christians  as  it  may,  they 
are  permanently  governed  by  these  principles. 
Though  they  "swear  to  their  own  hurt,  ihey  change 
not.^^  There  is  a  steadiness,  a  general  uniformity 
in  their  conduct  and  course,  on  which  you  can  safely 
calculate.  What  an  advantage  to  be  connected  with 
a  community  who  have  clear,  well  defined,  fixed,  un- 
changeable principles,  and  the  constant  presence  and 


SERMON   II.  39 

power  of  a  renewed,  enlightened,  quickened  con- 
science, to  put  them  in  practice  f  Come  witli  us,  then, 
ye  wlio  are  tossed,  bewildered,  and  betrayed  by  tlie 
perpetual  (luctuation  of  worldly  principles,and  we  will 
do  you  good;  we  will  give  you  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship, and  welcome  you  to  a  community  in  whom 
you  may  confide — a  community  where  you  may  re- 
gard yourselves  safe — where  your  feelings,  your  re- 
putation, your  interests,  your  happiness,  will  he 
guarded  and  guarantied  to  you,  by  the  operation  of 
principles  as  steady  and  changeless  on  the  whole,  as 
the  great  laws  of  nature. 

II.  A  second  advantage  of  such  a  connexion  is, 
that  you  will  be  in  contact  with  the  7?iinds  of  a 
community  more  intelligent^  better  informed  in 
the  knowledge  of  divine  things,  than  any  other 
portion  of  society.  I  know  there  are  associations 
of  men  that  are  more  scientific,  that  have  more  of 
this  world's  philosophy,  and  a  wider  range  of  human 
knowledge,  than  any  promiscuous  Christian  commu- 
nity or  individual  church.  And  yet,  perhaps,  the 
whole  commonwealth  of  Israel  for  the  last  three  cen- 
turies, would,  in  point  of  human  learning,  bear  a 
flattering  comparison  with  any  community  of  equal 
numbers  out  of  her  pale.  But  human  knowledge, 
however  valuable,  is  not  all  that  the  wants  and  ca- 
pacities of  the  soul  demand.  It  has  no  direct  influ- 
ence in  the  formation  of  moral  character,  and  no 
necessary  connexion  with  the  great  issues  of  a  fu- 
ture and  eternd  state.  To  know  the  'Miving  and 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent,"  ttiat 
involves  the  mighty  interests  of  eternal  life.  This 
knowledge  belongs  only  to  God's  spiritual  com- 
nuinitv,  and  everv  mind   in  that  community  has  an 


40  SERMON  II. 

individual,  experimental  participation  in  this  know- 
ledge. It  has  not  been,  and  cannot  be,  acquired  by 
the  unaided  powers  of  the  natural  man.  The  Holy 
Ghost  in  his  divine  illuminations  hath  revealed  it  to 
each  regenerated  soul,  and  it  is  there  only  that  it 
shines  as  a  light  in  a  dark  place.  In  the  most  un- 
lettered, ignorant,  obscure  individual  in  that  commu- 
nity, this  celestial  spark  is  kindled  and  glowing.  In 
its  pure  shinings  he  sees  trutiis,  and  acquires  a 
knowledge  of  divine  things  denied  to  the  most  stre- 
nuous efforts  of  the  wise  of  this  world,  who  by  all 
their  wisdom  knew  not  God  in  the  days  of  Paul,  and 
know  him  not  yet!  The  spiritual  Israel  are  still,  as 
of  old,  the  only  depositories  of  the  true  knowledge 
of  God  and  divine  things.  Why  should  it  not  be 
so?  They  have  still  the  lively  oracles  of  God,  an 
intelligent  ministry — the  administration  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  enlighten  the  mind  and  apply  truth  and  the 
verification  of  that  blessed  promise  and  prediction — 
"  they  shall  all  be  taught  of  God,''^  Now,  what 
an  advantage  to  be  connected  with  such  a  commu- 
nity, to  be  in  constant  contact  with  minds  thus  stored 
with  spiritual  knowledge.  For  each  one,  by  the 
help  of  God,  and  in  the  use  of  means  too,  has  to  ac- 
quire this  knowledge,  a  knowledge  indispensable 
to  his  salvation,  for  himself.  It  cannot  be  imparted 
to  him  by  charm  or  enchantment,  nor  can  it  be  in- 
herited from  intelligent,  pious  parents.  In  order  to 
judge  of,  and  to  appreciate  the  advantage  in  gaining 
this  knowledge,  to  be  derived  from  constant  contact 
with  mature,  well-informed  Christian  minds,  just  ad- 
vert, for  a  moment,  to  the  slow  progress  of  the  con- 
vert from  heathenism,  who  joins  a  church  consisting 
wholly  of  native  converts.     Suppose,  if  you  please. 


SKU.MOX    1[.  41 

an  indivitlual  in  lliis  land,  of  no  better  capacities,  and 
of  no  more  religious  knowledge  than  the  convert  in 
the  heathen  land,  to  join  a  Christian  church  here  at 
the  same  time  that  that  convert  joins  a  native  Chris- 
tian church  there.  How  slow  will  be  his  progress 
in  the  knowledge  of  divine  things  compared  with 
the  one  here  !  Why?  Has  not  the  heathen  con- 
vert the  same  God,  the  same  converting  and  sancti- 
fying grace,  the  same  Bible,  an  intelligent  pastor  and 
preacher?  Yes,  but  God  works  by  means,  and  one 
of  the  great  means  of  r«/?2W advancement  in  spiritual 
knowledge  is  wanting  there,  that  is,  that  constant 
intercourse,  that  social  contact  with  older,  riper, 
more  richly  furnished  Christian  minds,  whicii  here 
exerts  an  incessant  silent  influence  on  the  young 
convert's  growth  in  knowledge,  not  unlike  the  unob- 
served but  all-powerful  influence  of  the  sunshine  and 
dews  of  heaven  on  vegetation.  Come  with  us,  then, 
ye  who  have  never  hitherto  known  tlie  communion 
of  saints  in  knowledge,  nor  the  mutual  radiations  of 
truth  between  minds,  nor  have  felt  the  play  of  the 
higliest  and  noblest  sympathies  of  your  intellectual 
nature.  Come  with  us,  and  we  will  do  you  good, 
we  will  bring  you  into  sweet  fellowship  with  minds 
who  will  make  your  social  affections  the  medium 
through  which  in  every  walk  of  life  they  will  impart 
liberally  to  you  the  results  of  their  own  ripened 
Christian  experience,  the  rich  stores  of  their  know- 
ledge of  divine  things. 

HI.  You  will  have  the  advantage  of  the  restraints 
of  the  Christian  sentiment,  and  the  injluence  of 
the  Christian  example  of  this  community  in 
forming  your  own  religious  character. 

\* 


42  SERMON  II. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  conversion  of  the  soul, 
is  the  religious  character  which  it  shall  form  and 
sustain  through  life.  This  will  determine  the  mea- 
sure of  its  confidence  in  the  soundness  of  its  own 
conversion,  and  the  safety  of  its  spiritual  state ;  for 
no  soul  destitute  of  a  consistent,  harmonious,  well 
proportioned  religious  character,  can  rationally  pos- 
sess a  good  hope.  This,  then,  will  determine,  also, 
the  measure  of  the  soul's  solid  spiritual  joys,  and 
above  all,  it  will  be  the  true  criterion  of  the  extent 
of  its  usefulness  in  the  world  ;  for  it  is  not  profession, 
nor  hope,  nor  joy,  but  a  strong  bright  religious 
character,  that  God  uses  as  the  instrument  of  bless- 
ing the  world  and  influencing  its  moral  destinies. 
Any  thing,  then,  that  furnishes  an  advantage  for 
forming  such  a  character,  is  of  vital  moment  to  the 
soul.  In  the  formation  of  character  tivo  forces  arc 
required  ;  the  one  to  ward  off  from  it  and  protect  it 
against  influences  directly  or  indirectly  hurtful,  and 
the  other  to  bring  to  bear  upon  the  character  in  the 
most  effective  form,  a  positively  good  influence. 
Restraints^  therefore,  are  as  important  in  their  place 
as  the  positive  influence  of  good  example.  Now,  he 
who  connects  himself  with  the  church  of  God,  will 
have  the  advantage  of  both  these  forces  in  forming 
his  own  religious  character.  He  will  have  the  re- 
straints of  a  powerful  Christian  sentiment;  and  this 
is  a  far  more  efficient  kind  of  restraint  than  that  of 
mere  precept  and  prohibition.  He  will  find  himself 
in  the  midst  of  a  spiritual  community,  who,  notwith- 
standing individual  exceptions,  are  in  the  main  cha- 
racterized by  a  prevalent,  exalted,  moral  sentiment. 
His  remaining  depravity,  the  lingerings  of  sinful  pas*- 


SERMON    II.  43 

sions  an  J  appetites,  that  are  ever  ready  to  break  forth 
in  the  absence  of  restraints,  will  now  be  girt  about 
and  pressed  in  on  all  sides  by  this  pervading  senti- 
ment of  the  Christian  community.  The  influence  of 
public  sentiment  on  character,  is  often  most  striking 
and  wonderful.  How  human  depravity  is  developed, 
and  with  what  rank  luxuriance  it  grows  in  the 
midst  of  a  corrupt  public  sentiment,  some  of  the 
courts  of  Europe,  for  centuries,  have  furnished  melan- 
choly examples.  And  how  it  may  be  repressed, 
stinted,  withered,  and  almost  prevented  from  show- 
ing itself,  by  a  widely  diffused,  lofty.  Christian  sen- 
timent, the  history  of  the  Puritans  amply  testi- 
fies. The  influence  of  such  a  sentiment  is  not  the 
less,  but  the  more  j)owerful  and  controlling  in  its 
restraints,  from  its  being  a  silent,  unobserved  influ- 
ence, acting  every  ivhere  and  always^  like  the  con- 
stant and  equal  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  all  ter- 
restrial objects.  Happy  is  the  man  who  in  his  spi- 
ritual conflict,  in  the  great  struggle  of  his  soul  to 
ward  off  the  lawless  violence  of  those  causes  that 
combine  to  injure  his  character,  thrice  happy  he 
who  can  avail  himself  of  the  powerful,  permanent, 
every  where  present  restraints  of  a  pure  Christian 
sentiment !  He  has  all  the  advantage  of  one  of  the 
great  forces  that  form  religious  character.  He  has 
also  the  advantage  of  the  direct  and  positive  influ- 
ence of  holy  example.  For,  calumniate  Christians 
as  the  world  may,  it  is  still  within  the  pale  of  the 
church  that  are  to  be  found  all  the  brightest  and 
best  examples  of  pure  living  piety.  These  must,  by 
the  very  constitution  of  our  nature,  act  powerfully  in 
forming  religions  character.      Such  examples  arc  the 


44  SERMON  II. 

practical  cxtraplijication,  the  imbodying  and  ex- 
hibiting in  every-day  life,  of  the  principles  and  sen- 
timent of  Christians.  They  are  true  religion  lived 
out,  and  appealing  to  the  cognizance  and  conscience 
of  the  man.  They  are  the  examples,  too,  of  men  of 
like  passions  with  himself,  and  in  similar  circum- 
stances. This  assures  him  that,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
it  is  practicable  for  him  to  make  the  same  attainments. 
These  examples,  therefore,  have  an  inherent  life  and 
warmth  different  from  the  marvellous  and  romantic 
histories  of  calendar  saints.  These  are  the  exam- 
ples of  his  now  living  brethren  of  the  spiritual  com- 
munity. They  take  hold,  therefore,  on  an  active  and 
powerful  principle  of  his  nature — the  principle  of 
imitation.  These  examples  also  operate  on  his  so- 
cial principles,  and  connect  by  a  vital  sympathy  and 
union,  their  controlling  influence  with  all  the  exer- 
cises of  his  heart.  Now,  if  man  is  made  to  be  influ- 
enced by  example,  if  by  a  law  of  his  nature  he  grows 
like  those  with  whom  he  most  associates,  you  can  see 
at  once  the  immense  advantage  in  forming  religious 
character  possessed  by  him  who  joins  God's  Israel,  and 
feels  the  constant  influence  of  their  holy  example. 
Come  with  us,  then,  ye  who  have  resolved  to  form  a 
religious  character.  Escape  from  the  lax  moral  sen- 
timent, and  the  still  worse  example  of  the  world. 
Come  with  us,  we  will  do  you  good — we  will  throw- 
around  you  the  powerful  restraints  of  a  pure  Christian 
sentiment,  and  rear  bulwarks  of  imperishable  strength 
between  you  and  the  dangers  that  threaten  your 
character  from  without,  whilst  we  will  pour  on  you 
the  light  and  warmth,  the  melting  and  moulding  in- 
fluence of  Christian  example,  to  form  your  inner  man 
according  to  the  model  of  the  glorious  gospel. 


SERMON  II.  45 

IV.  Another  advantagje  of  the  connexion  is,  that 
you  lolll  have  the  holy  sympathies,  the  prayers 
and  the  affections  of  this  communily  to  assist 
you  in  cultivatiw^  the  graces  of  your  own  heart. 
The  supreme  selfishness  of  the  world  makes  its  soci- 
ety in  the  main  heartless.  Each  unrenewed  mind 
is  bent  on  its  own  individual  interests  and  pleasures, 
in  disregard  or  at  tlie  expense  of  others.  An  in- 
timate sympathy  and  benevolent  afleclion  amongst 
such  minds  were  not  to  be  expected.  Ever}^  man 
caring  only  for  his  own  things,  connects  himself 
with  his  fellow  men  no  farther  than  is  necessary  to 
secure  his  selfish  ends,  and  beyond  that  leaves  them 
to  shift  and  struggle  for  themselves,  as  best  they 
can.  Some  honourable  exceptions  to  this,  amongst 
worldly  men,  like  all  exceptions,  only  establish  the 
general  rule.  But  such  is  not  the  state  of  God's 
spiritual  community;  they  have  "not  so  learned 
Christ.''  1  admit,  that  within  the  church  you  may 
find  some  heartless  professors  of  religion,  like  Judas 
Iscariot  of  old.  But  it  must  also  be  admitted,  that  you 
will  find  there  too,  and  there  only,  the  play  of  the 
warmest,  most  generous  and  holy  sympathies  of  re- 
generated human  nature.  Every  pious  heart  feels  a 
bond  of  union,  a  gush  of  spiritual  sympathy  connect- 
ing it  with  the  renewed  individual  who  joins  this 
spiritual  community.  None  of  this  household  of 
faith  have  any  rival  interest,  any  unsanctificd  com- 
petition to  produce  jealousy  and  alienate  them  from 
their  brother.  They  know  his  experience,  his  con- 
flicts, his  joys  and  griefs,  his  trials  and  temptations, 
his  tastes,  his  desires,  pursuits,  hopes,  and  fears,  for 
these  are  all  their  own.     They  feel,  therefore,  a  high 


46  SERMON  II. 

and  holy  congeniality  with  him,  which  naturally 
begets  an  intimate,  endearing,  yearning,  spiritual 
sympathy  with  him.  They  feel  that  he  is  one  of 
them,  and  one  with  themselves;  and  knowing  the 
warfare  in  which  he  has  enlisted  by  joining  them, 
and  the  hardness  he  will  have  to  endure,  the  dan- 
gers and  the  tremendous  struggle  of  his  fight  of  faith, 
their  congeniality  and  sympathy  with  him  lead  them, 
very  naturally,  to  pour  out  their  prayers  to  God  in 
his  behalf.  Cannot  you,  my  dear  hearers,  who  are 
the  older  members  of  this  church,  testify  to  the  truth 
of  this  in  your  recent  experience?  Have  not  your 
whole  souls  yearned  over  those  who  have  lately  be- 
come connected  with  you,  and  your  ardent  pra37ers 
gone  up  to  heaven,  that  they  may  endure  unto  the 
end  ? 

And  now,  with  their  congeniality  and  spiritual 
sympathy  with  him,  and  their  fervent,  importunate 
prayers  for  his  eternal  welfare,  will  not  the  purest 
affections  of  their  hearts  necessarily  be  called  forth  to 
him  in  the  exercise  of  a  true  scriptural  brotherly 
love  ?  What  an  unspeakable  advantage  will  all  this 
be  to  one  who  has  to  cultivate  the  graces  of  the  Spirit 
in  his  own  heart.  How  can  those  graces  grow  and 
thrive  in  the  cold  and  frosty  atmosphere  of  selfishness 
that  pervades  worldly  society  ?  How  can  they  grow 
in  the  dark  and  chilly  air  of  the  cloister?  The  whole 
doctrine  of  seclusion,  of  hermitages,  monasteries  and 
nunneries,  contradicts  its  verj^  genius,  and  is  a  libel  on 
Christianit)".  The  religion  of  the  gospel  is  essentially 
a  social  religion.  The  first  words  of  our  Lord's  prayer 
prove  it  to  be  so — ^^  Our  Father.'^  It  is  the  religion 
of  a  community  in  its  every-day  duties  and  relations. 


SEKMON   II.  47 

domestic,  social,  civil  and  political.  Many  of  the 
Christian  graces  are  purely  of  a  social  nature,founded 
on  the  domestic  and  social  relations  which  bind  hu- 
man society  together,  and  some  of  these  graces  refer 
exclusive!}/  to  the  spiritual  community,  such  as 
brotherly  love,  charity,  Christian  reproof  and  exhor- 
tation, mutual  prayer  and  mutual  forgiveness  of  faults. 
Now,  how  can  such  graces  be  cultivated  with  any 
hope  of  success  by  the  individual  who  does  not  con- 
nect himself  with  the  church  of  God,  but  remains 
outwardly  a  member  of  the  great  community  of  a 
world  lying  in  wickedness?  No!  he  must  join 
himself  to  the  spiritual  Israel,  take  advantage  of  the 
social  principle  of  our  nature,  bring  himself  within 
the  sphere  of  the  sympathies,  the  prayers,  and  the 
affections  of  Christian  brethren;  then  he  will  find  that 
the  spirit  of  devotion  is  delightfully  contagions : 
heart  will  meet  heart,  like  will  beget  like:  a  genial, 
social  warmth  will  come  over  his  soul,  a  spring  time 
to  the  graces  of  his  spirit,  when  the  dews  of  Christian 
sympathy,  and  the  balmy  breath  of  prayer  and  Chris- 
tian affection,  will  promote  a  new  growth,  a  vigorous 
vitality.  These  are  the  circumstances,  these  the 
aids  in  connexion  with  the  word  and  ordinances  of 
God,  by  which  the  soul  is  to  advance  in  the  divine 
life  till  it  receives  the  end  of  its  faith.  Come  with 
us,  then,  ye  who  have  vainly  supposed  that  you  could 
be  as  good  without  a  profession  of  religion  as  with 
it,  that  you  could  cultivate  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  in 
your  hearts,  as  well  in  the  cold  soil  of  the  world,  as 
in  the  sunny  garden  of  your  God.  Come  with  us, 
and  we  will  do  you  good.  Our  holy  sympathies 
will  distil  on  your  hearts  as  the  dew  on  Ilermon: 


48  SERMON  II. 

our  united  prayers  will  rise  to  heaven  in  your  be- 
half, the  light  and  warmth  of  our  pure  brotherly 
love  will  form  an  atmosphere  round  your  souls  to 
cherish  all  your  graces  till  they  grow  to  an  immor- 
tal maturity. 

V.  This  connexion  will  give  you   the  advantage 
of  that  shield  of  God  which  is  over  this  spiritual 
community^  for  it  is  a  divinely  defended  and  pro- 
tected   community.      The    whole   history    of  the 
church  from  its  commencement,  proves  that  it  enjoys 
a  divine  defence  and  protection,  not  extended  to  any 
other  community  of  mankind.     When  we  contem- 
plate the  gigantic  malice  of  earth  and  hell,  their  com- 
bined   stratagems,    their    overwhelming    majorities, 
their  oft-repeated  and  violent  attacks,  the  storm  and 
thunder  of  their  might  against  the  weak  and  defence- 
less commonwealth  of  Israel:  the  conviction  is  irre- 
sistible that  the  great  shield  of  Jehovah  must  have 
been  held  by  his  own  almighty  right  hand  over  this 
community,  to  preserve  them  from  utter  annihilation. 
The  truth  and  faithfulness  of  God  are  pledged  for  the 
defence  and  safety  of  the  church,  as  they  are  not 
pledged  to  any  other  community.     A  few  only  of 
the  numerous,  great,  and  precious  promises,  respect- 
ing Zion,  can  now  be  cited.     "Can  a  woman  forget 
her  sucking  child,  that  she  should  not  have  compas- 
sion on  the  son  of  her  womb?     Yea,  they  may  forget, 
yet  will  I  not  forget  thee.     Behold   I  have  graven 
thee  upon  the  palms  of  my  hands,  thy  walls  are  con- 
tinually before  me."     "0,  Israel,  thou  shalt  not  be 
forgotten  of  me."     "Nevertheless,  my  loving-kind- 
ness will  I  not  utterly  take  from  him,  nor  suffer  my 
faithfulness  to  fail;  my  covenant  vvill  I  not  break,  nor 


SERMON  II.  49 

alter  the  thing  that  has  gone  out  of  my  mouth.'' — 
"No  weapon  formed  against  thee  shall  prosper." 
"God  is  in  the  midst  of  her;  she  shall  not  be  moved; 
God  shall  help  her,  and  that  right  early."  This  is  a 
part  of  the  "good  which  the  Lord  hath  spoken  concern- 
ing Israel,"  These  are  the  pledges  of  his  eternal  love 
and  faithfulness,  to  guard  his  church  as  the  apple  of 
his  eye.  As  we  have  said,  the  very  existence,  pro- 
gress, and  perpetuity  of  the  church,  encountering,  as 
it  has  done,  at  every  step,  the  malignant  forces  of 
earth  and  hell,  prove  that  there  is  an  incessant,  un- 
seen. Almighty  power  of  defence  and  protection  ex- 
clusively her  own,  and  rendering  her  safety  certain 
amidst  all  the  ruin  and  desolation  of  worldly  commu- 
nities and  empires.  Is  it  not  an  unspeakable  advan- 
tage in  a  world  of  danger,  and  amidst  our  mortal 
weakness  and  our  mighty  invisible  foes,  to  be  con- 
nected with  this  spiritual  community,  and  brought 
within  the  sphere  of  that  all-comprehending  and 
irresistible  defence  and  protection,  which  assures  you 
that  "a  hair  of  your  head  shall  not  perish?"  Come 
with  us,  then,  ye  who  have  hitherto  held  your  peri- 
lous position  in  the  great  community  of  the  world 
which  is  without  spiritual  protection  from  its  God. 
Escape  from  the  tremendous  exposure  of  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  city  of  our  God.  Come  with  us,  we  will 
do  you  good.  You  shall  be  welcomed  under  the 
great  shield,  and  shall  dwell  at  ease  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty.  Between  you  and  all  the  dire 
hostilities  of  earth  and  hell  that  war  against  your 
souls,  there  shall  be  placed  and  held  the  "thick  bosses 
of  Jehovah's  buckler." 

VI.  Lastly.     By  thus  coming   and    casting  in 
5 


50  SERMON  II. 

your  lot  with  the  spiritual  Israel,  you  will  have 
the  advanidige  of  p  aril  cip  a  ting  in  the  exalted  hopes 
and  anticipations  of  this  community/.  The  hu- 
man mind,  by  its  very  constitution,  is  led  to  in- 
dulge in  great  hopes  and  high  anticipations.  There 
is  an  elevation,  a  scope  and  a  vastness  in  the  range 
of  the  passion  of  hope,  which  carry  the  soul  above 
and  beyond  this  world,  and  is  no  mean  proof  of  its 
immortality.  Now,  no  worldly  community  have 
plans  and  objects  before  them  of  sufficient  amplitude 
and  grandeur,  to  limit  and  satisfy  the  aspirations  of 
deathless  hope.  The  politics,  diplomacy,  and  wealth 
of  nations — the  enterprise  of  empires,  the  conquest 
of  the  world,  and  the  possession  of  its  kingdoms, 
with  all  their  glory,  could  not  bring  back  hope  from 
its  sublime  excursions,  make  it  alight,  fold  its  great 
wings,  and  rest  contented  on  this  globe.  No!  it 
mounts  and  soars  still,  leaving  this  world  in  the  dim 
distance,  and  grasping  at  The  infinite  as  its  portion, 
and  The  eternal  as  its  duration.  Now,  God's  spi- 
ritual Israel  is  the  only  community  on  earth  whose 
objects  of  hope  and  anticipation  are  sufficiently  vast, 
lofty,  and  enduring,  to  satisfy  the  unlimited  and  all- 
grasping  capacities  of  this  eager  passion.  The  ob- 
jects of  hope  and  anticipation  to  the  church,  are  not 
confined  within  the  narrow  boundaries  of  earth  and 
time.  And  yet,  ev^en  her  hopes  that  pertain  to  this 
world,  are  by  far  the  most  exalted  and  grand,  that 
belong  to  its  future  history.  They  do  not  refer 
merely  to  the  advancement  of  science,  civilization, 
refinement,  national  wealth,  aggrandizement,  and 
glory.  No  !  the  hopes  of  the  church  fix  on  nobler 
results  than  these,  yet  to  be  realized  in  this  fallen 


SERMON  ir.  51 

world.  They  refer  to  the  moral  condition  of  man, 
and  contemplate  the  grand  issue  of  the  world's  con- 
version to  God! 

The  church  confidently  anticipates  that  golden 
millennial  age  when   this  apostate  globe,  brought 
back  in  universal  allegiance  to  its  God,  shall  be  per- 
vaded with  a  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy   Ghost,   which   will  render  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  triumphant,  and  restore  to  earth  a  portion  of 
the  innocence  and  bliss  of  its  primeval  paradise  ! — 
But  the  main  objects  of  Israel's  hopes  rise  above, 
and  stretch  far  beyond  this  world.     The  most  ob- 
scure, neglected,  and  forgotten  member  of  this  com- 
monwealth, is  permitted  to   indulge   a   hope   more 
bright,  more  exalted,  than  ever  blessed  the  mighti- 
est potentate  of  earth.     He  is  permitted  to  hope  for 
the  ultimate,  absolute  ]je7'fection  of  his  whole  na- 
ture^ corporeal  and  spiritual ! — to  hope  that  his  soul, 
though   now  environed   by  evil,  and  still   suffering 
under  the  effects  of  the  apostacy  in  Eden,  will,  by 
divine  aid,  struggle  and  break  away  from  its  present 
darkness  and  thraldom,  grow  in  grace  and   know- 
ledge, attain  "  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  a  perfect 
man  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  be  presented  at  last  with- 
out spot,  and  blameless  in  love  before  the  infinite 
God  !     Nor  does  he  despair  of  this  frail  mortal  part 
with  which  the  soul  is  now  connected.     For  that, 
too,  redeeming  love  has  made  a  kind  provision,  and 
hope  looks  forward  to  the  resurrection  ;  and  the  tri- 
umphant language  of  Christian  anticipation,  view- 
ing Christ  as  the  '^  first  fruit,"  is,  "  Who  shall  change 
our  vile  bodies  and  fashion  them  like  unto  his  glo- 
rious body."     All   the  members  of  this   spiritual 


52  SERxMON  II. 

community  are  permitted  to  hope  that  the  great  Jeho- 
vah himself  will  be  the  eternal  portion  of  their  souls. 
They  are  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ. 
Renewed  and  united  to  their  Saviour,  reconciled, 
and  at  peace  with  their  God,  their  souls  panting  and 
following  hard  after  holiness,  they  anticipate  seeing 
Jesus  as  he  is,  being  like  him,  and  holding  an  eter- 
nal communion  face  to  face  with  the  infinite  Jeho- 
vah !  They  hope  to  enjoy  this,  too,  in  a  "  better 
country,  that  is  a  heavenly — a  city  which  hath 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.'' — 
"  Far  from  noise,  from  tumult  far,  beyond  the  fly- 
ing clouds,  beyond  the  stars,  and  all  this  passing 
scene,"  Israel's  hopes  fix  on  a  vast,  glorious,  eternal 
vvorld — a  world  all  light  and  love,  for  "  God  and 
the  Lamb  are  the  light  thereof;"  the  world  of  har- 
monious, hol}^  minds,  forming  thrones  and  domi- 
nions, principalities  and  powers,  yet  a  world  of  un- 
broken peace,  of  unmarred  congeniality,  of  unend- 
ing repose ;  a  world,  too,  of  harps  and  songs,  of  tri- 
umphal processions  and  glad  hosannahs;  a  world  all 
pervaded  with  the  most  perfect  models  of  immortal 
beauty,  and  the  most  stupendous  disclosures  of  eter- 
nal truth  ;  a  world  of  mutual,  sinless,  social  aflfec- 
tions,  of  untiring,  benevolent  activity,  where  all  the 
perfected  powers  of  the  undying  mind  will  find  full 
play,  and  the  redeemed  move  harmoniously  in  their 
respective  spheres,  rising  higher,  and  coming  nearer 
to  the  eternal  throne,  in  knowledge,  holiness,  and 
bliss,  through  an  endless  duration. 

What  objects  of  hope  and  anticipation  to  the  com- 
monwealth of  Israel!  The  dim  and  distant  glance 
that  we  can  now  take  of  them  dazzles  and  blinds 


SKRMON   II.  5S 

mortal  vision.  What  an  advantage  to  he  connected 
with  this  community,  and  to  participate  in  sucli 
hopes  and  anticipations!  What  an  influence  it  must 
have  on  ihe  character — what  a  light  it  must  shed  on 
the  way,  and  what  a  resistless  attraction  exert  on 
the  soul,  in  its  onward  and  upward  Christian  career! 
Come  with  us,  then,  ye  who  have  hitherto  been 
without  these  hopes,  and  yet  have  felt  the  restless- 
ness of  this  passion  of  your  nature,  in  its  struggles, 
bounding  and  beating  against  the  barriers  which  the 
darkness  and  littleness  of  earth  have  reared  around 
it.  Oh,,  come  with  us;  we  will  do  you  good,  by 
bringing  you  to  share  with  us  the  Christian's  hope 
and  anticipations  of  glory!  Do  you  say  you  can 
have  this  hope  between  your  own  soul  and  God, 
though  you  are  still  outwardly  connected  with  the 
world?  You  may  for  awhile;  yet  it  will  be  shorn 
of  its  brightest  beams,  and  but  half  enjoyed;  for  it 
is  a  social  hope,  borrowing  rather  than  lending  or 
losing  lustre  by  being  blended  with  the  aggregate 
splendour  of  the  common  hopes  of  a  great  commu- 
nity. Come  with  us,  then;  be  of  the  spiritual  Is- 
rael; open  your  whole  souls  to  the  objects  of  their 
hopes  and  anticipations;  enter,  by  a  sacred  sympa- 
thy, into  d. participation  in  these  hopes  and  blissful 
prospects:  then  shall  ye  know  what  is  the  riches  of 
God's  grace  and  the  hope  of  yoxir  calling,  by  feel- 
ing yourselves  bound,  by  a  new  and  nearer  relation, 
to  the  blessedness  and  glories  of  an  eternal  heaven. 
We  see  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place ^  what 
a  distinguished  privilege  the  yoitng  convert  enjoys 
in  being  permitted  to  connect  himself  at  once 
with  the  church  of  God.  What  a  spiritual  home 
5» 


54  SERMON  II. 

does  the  church  furnish.  What  a  kind  mother  nurse 
does  she  prove  to  the  "babes  in  Christ!"  Here 
their  spiritual  infancy  is  watched  over  with  a  holy 
maternal  tenderness!  No  capriciousness,  no  fickle- 
ness of  principles  and  purposes,  to  betray  the  un- 
suspecting confidence  of  the  young  convert,  or 
blight  the  first  buddings  of  his  gracious  affections. 
Here  shines  the  light  of  Christian  knowledge,  mild- 
ly attempered  to  his  newly  opened  infantile  eye! 
Here  are  the  salutary  restraints  of  a  pure  and  pow- 
erful Christian  sentiment,  to  repress  and  correct  the 
ardent,  undisciplined,  inexperienced  feelings  of  spi- 
ritual youth.  Here  is  the  power  of  holy  example, 
to  act  on  the  imitative  principle,  and  form  the  cha- 
racter in  the  very  morning  of  the  Christian  life, 
when  that  principle  is  strongest,  and  the  character 
most  easily  moulded!  Here  are  strong  spiritual 
sympathies,  ardent  unceasing  prayers,  holy  yearn- 
ing affections,  forming  an  atmosphere  around  him, 
and  furnishing  him  the  greatest  facilities  for  culti- 
vating the  graces  of  the  Spirit  in  his  own  heart. 
Here  is  the  broad  wing  of  the  Almighty,  under 
whose  feathers  he  may  hide  his  infantile  weakness 
— the  mighty  shield  of  Jehovah  to  protect  him  from 
all  fatal  harm  in  this  most  perilous  and  defenceless 
period  of  his  whole  Christian  life !  Here  are  objects 
of  hope  and  anticipation  sufficiently  grand  and  ex- 
alted to  furnish  ample  scope  for  the  unwearied  ener- 
gies of  this  youthful  capacity !!  0,  what  a  privi- 
lege for  the  young  convert  to  be  permitted  at  once 
to  come  directly  within  the  pale  of  God's  church, 
and  into  the  participation  of  such  blessings!  I  trust, 
my  dear  hearers,  that  those  of  you  who  have  lately 


SERMON  II.  55 

connected  yourselves  with  this  church,  highly  ap- 
preciate, and  are  determined  to  improve  this,  your 
distinguished  privilege.  I  know,  if  your  hearts  are 
right,  that  you  do ; — Yes,  the  language  of  your  souls 
this  day,  as  you  contemplate  with  adoring  gratitude, 
the  grace  of  God  which  has  brought  you  into  this 
connexion,  will  be — 

''  Why  was  I  made  to  hear  his  voice, 

And  enter  while  there's  room, 
When  thousands  make  a  wretched  choice, 

And  rather  starve  than  cornel" 
0,  regard  this,  your  connexion,  as  the  most  sacred 
you  can  ever  form  on  earth,  and  the  privilege  which 
it  confers  on  you,  as  the  greatest  that  you  can  ever  en- 
joy this  side  heaven  !  And  here,  let  me  drop  you  one 
word  of  counsel.  Beware,  I  pray  you,  of  beginning 
at  once  to  search  out,  dwell  on,  and  talk  of  the 
faults  of  some  professors  of  religion  in  the  church 
with  which  you  have  become  connected.  Doubtless, 
it  has  its  share  of  Judases,  Simon  Maguses,  and  De- 
metriuses.  But,  young  converts, ^oz*  had  better  let 
them  alone!  A  disposition  to  catch  and  carp  at 
their  faults,  will  do  them  no  good,  and  you  a  great 
deal  of  harm  !  It  will  certainly  destroy,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  benefit  that  you  ought  to  derive  from 
your  connexion  with  the  church.  It  will  withdraw 
your  attention  from,  and  blind  you  to  all  the  real  ex- 
cellency imbodied  in  the  Church,  just  as  the  man 
who  is  for  ever  looking  through  a  smoked  glass  at 
the  spots  on  the  sun,  soon  becomes  insensible  to  the 
magnitude  and  splendour  of  that  glorious  orb!  I 
have  seen  the  disastrous  effccls  of  this  disposition, 
and  solemnly  warn  you  against  it.  It  will  foster 
spiritual  pride,  promote  in  you  the  growth  and  sway 


Db  SERMON  ir. 

of  a  censorious,  self-righteous,  meddlesome,  over- 
bearing, back-biting  sjiirit,  that  will  destroy  your 
own  peace,  and  disturb  that  of  your  brethren,  pre- 
vent your  growth  in  grace,  injure  your  good  name, 
annihilate  your  usefulness,  and  at  last  bring  you  into 
a  striking  resemblance  to  the  very  characters  whose 
faults  you  thus  dwell  upon,  and  which  you  profess 
to  mourn  over  and  to  hate. 

Finally.  We  see  from  this  subject,  what  a  so- 
lemn pledge  the  Church  gives  to  those  who  enter 
her  communion,  "Come  thou  with  us,  and  we 
will  do  thee  good.^^  This  is  a  comprehensive  pro- 
mise, a  great  and  solemn  pledge!  It  is  nothing  less 
than  a  formal  engagement  to  promote  the  spiritual 
and  eternal  good  of  each  soul  that  becomes  connect- 
ed with  her.  We  pledge  ourselves,  before  God, 
angels,  and  men,  to  be  "helpers"  of  that  soul's 
"faith,"  to  watch  over,  instruct,  exhort,  warn, 
charge,  and  rebuke  it,  with  "all  long-suffering,"  and 
with  "the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ ;"  that 
we  will  exert  ourselves  to  the  utmost  to  assist  it  in 
securing  all  its  spiritual  and  eternal  interests  ;  that 
joined  heart  and  heart,  and  standing  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  we  will  make  common  cause  with  it  in  the 
great  fight  of  faith,  and  endeavour  to  impart  a 
strength,  and  inspire  it  wMth  a  courage  that  will  at 
last  bring  it  off  more  than  conqueror  through  him 
that  loved  it ! !  Now,  it  is  high  time  that  this  church 
should  lay  to  heart  the  overwhelming  solemnities 
of  this  pledge,  and  ask  itself  before  God  to-day,  how 
it  has  redeemed  the  same  hitherto.  Have  we  a  feel- 
ing of  individual  responsibility  in  this  matter?  Have 
our  lives  and  conversation,  our  holy  influence,  our 


SERMON  II.  57 

whole  example,  been  such  as  to  lurnish  a  practical 
fulfilment  of  our  great  promise?  Have  we  faith- 
fully redeemed  the  pledge  which  we  gave  to  those 
that  have  come  into  the  church  since  we  did?  Have 
the  older  members  of  this  church  already  gathered 
round  and  become  acquainted  with  the  converts 
that  have  lately  joined  them  here?  Do  you  feel  a 
peculiar  parental  tenderness  over  these  babes  -in 
Christ?  Are  you  taking  them  by  the  hands,  and 
teaching  them  to  walk? — watching,  yearning,  pray- 
ing over  them  at  every  step?  Are  you  circum- 
spect yourselves,  peculiarly  so,  for  their  sakes, 
that  you  may  give  them  the  benefit  of  your  Chris- 
tian, holy  example?  In  a  word,  have  you,  in  so- 
lemn earnest,  set  about  doing  them  good  in  every 
way  possible  in  your  present  circumstances?  These 
questions  are  laid  upon  the  consciences  of  the  older 
members  of  this  church,  to  be  answered  silently  to 
their  God  to-day  !  Would  that  we  were  fully  awake 
to  the  vital  importance  of  this  matter;  and  that  our 
young  converts  might  enjoy  from  us  those  great  ad- 
vantages which  God  designed  should  result  from 
their  connexion  with  his  church.  Oh,  ''  what  man- 
ner of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversa- 
tion and  godliness!" 

Of  one  thing  we  may  rest  assured,  the  good  we 
have  promised  to  them  can  never  be  done — our 
pledge  can  never  be  redeemed  with  the  stinted  at- 
tainments and  dwarfish  standard  of  holiness,  the 
backsliding  barrenness  and  spiritual  desolations, 
which  so  mournfully  mark  the  history  of  many  in 
this  day  who  have  long  had  a  name  and  a  place  in 
the  commonwealth  of  God's  Israel. 


5S  SERMON  III. 


SERMON   III. 


"  He  went  away  sorrowfuL" — Matt.  xix.  22. 

This  brief  sentence  is  fraught  with  a  deep  and 
melancholy  interest.  It  brings  to  view  a  kind  of 
sorrow  which  makes  an  irresistible  appeal  to  the 
sympathies  of  a  regenerated  heart — the  sorrow  of 
an  ingenuous  youthful  mind,  torn,  by  a  concern  for 
its  future  life,  in  conflict  with  its  taste  and  its  pre- 
ference for  the  things  of  the  present.  Our  text 
closes  the  evangelical  narrative  of  that  lovely  young 
man  who  came  running  and  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  asked  him, — "  Good  Master,  what  good  thing 
shall  I  do,  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life?''  A 
question  of  deeper,  graver  import,  could  scarcely  be 
uttered  by  man.  From  the  person  who  asked  it, 
the  manner  in  which  it  was  put,  and  the  person  to 
whom  it  was  addressed,  we  cannot  doubt,  but  that 
it  was  spoken  in  sincerity,  and  with  profound  emo- 
tion. This  young  man  was  very  serious — he  was  a 
true  inquirer,  and  yet,  for  aught  that  the  records  of 
earth  show,  he  never  was  any  thing  more  than  a 
mere  inquirer.  And  his  is  one  of  a  multitude  of 
similar  cases,  in  the  history  of  men  who  enjoy  the 
ministrations  of  the  gospel,  where  the  understanding 
has  been  fully  convinced  of  the  reality  and  import- 
ance of  religion — the  heart  been  affected  with  in- 
tense feeling  on  the  subject,  and  the  man  impelled 


SERMON  III.  59 

to  some  efforts  to  secure  his  salvation,  and  yet,  at 
last,  he  has  voluntarily  preferred  the  riches,  or  the 
pleasures  of  the  world,  to  that  eternal  life  of  his 
soul,  which,  for  a  season,  created  much  anxiety,  and 
led  to  inquiry  and  effort  for  its  attainment. 

Men  may  thus  forfeit  their  salvation,  and  plunge 
into  the  world,  without  becoming  flagrantly  vi- 
cious, or  losing  their  reputation  in  the  eyes  of  their 
fellow-men.  The  causes  that  widen  the  separation 
between  God  and  an  alienated  soul,  are  not  always 
strikingly  perceptible  to  the  individual  himself,  or 
to  others  around  him.  These  causes  generally  ope- 
rate, unseen  by  all  but  the  Omniscient  eye.  The 
secret  love  of  wealth,  was  the  cause  of  this  young 
man's  departure  from  Christ,  as  a  teacher  and  Sa- 
viour, to  whom  he  had  eagerly  applied  for  direction 
and  counsel  in  the  concerns  of  eternal  life.  Yet 
this  hidden  love  of  mammon  had  not  influenced  him 
to  become  a  thief,  or  a  robber,  or  unjust,  or  an  ex- 
tortioner; nor  did  it  probably  after  the  date  of  his 
going  away.  We  may  reasonably  suppose,  that  he 
continued  a  correct,  moral,  respectable  member  of 
society,  and  considered  himself  still  disposed  to  pay 
great  regard  to  religion.  Nay,  he  doubtless,  still 
expected  to  obtain  eternal  life,  after  he  had  com- 
pleted the  circle  of  those  alluring  pleasures  which 
his  great  possessions  promised.  Now  we  may  take 
the  case  of  this  young  man,  as  an  example  which, 
in  its  principal  features,  will  suit  the  condition  of 
all  those  who  have  been  awakened  to  serious  con- 
cern for  their  salvation,  but  have  banished  their 
convictions  and  gone  back  to  the  world.  As  the 
cause  of  this  sad  lapse,  there  is  always  some  secret 


60  SERMON  III. 

reserve — if  not  the  love  of  wealth — the  love  of  gay- 
ungodly  companions — the  love  of  the  applause  and 
flattery  of  others — the  love  of  dress  and  personal 
appearance — the  desire  to  retain  the  interest  which 
they  excite  towards  themselves,  by  the  exercise  of  a 
light,  gay,  worldly  spirit.  One  or  more  of  these, 
or  it  may  be  pride,  or  self-righteousness  constitutes 
the  starting  point  of  their  departure  from  their  se- 
riousness, from  Christ  and  salvation.  "  He  went 
away  sorrowful.'^ 

Let  us  now  contemplate  several  things  that  mark 
this  melancholy  course  of  an  individual,  from  a  state 
of  seriousness  and  concern  for  his  soul,  to  utter 
thoughtlessness  and  stupidity  in  sin. 

I.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  us,  is,  that  this  is 
not  a  course  in  which  the  man  loses  all  sensibility 
on  the  subject  of  religion  at  once.  He  has  some 
acute  and  indescribably  mournful  feelings,  when  he 
commences  his  departure  from  Christ,  and  gives  up 
for  the  present  his  hope  of  securing  eternal  life.  It 
would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  the  human  heart  could 
become  callous  at  once,  on  a  subject  so  deeply  en- 
grossing to  all  man's  dearest  hopes  and  direst  fears 
for  two  worlds !  Who,  but  a  fiend,  could  avoid 
some  tender  and  even  agitating  emotions  in  that 
awful  crisis  of  destiny,  when  the  mind  deliberately 
rejects  the  Saviour,  and  first  commences  to  turn  its 
back  on  the  holy  attractions  of  the  cross?  To  the 
young  man  especially,  that  must  be  a  most  trying, 
tragic  moment.  To  turn  away  from  that  loving  cru- 
cified One,  at  whose  feet  the  awakened  soul  has  been 
kneeling,  weeping,  praying,  and  inquiring  what  it 
must  do  to  be  saved— from   that  Jesus,  who  still 


SERMON   III.  61 

yearns  over  the  revolted,  ruined  soul — who  still 
looks  on  the  departing  ingrate,  in  love  and  sorrow 
— who  calls  him  to  return  by  all  that  is  melting  in 
the  crucifixion — by  all  that  is  winning  and  subduing 
in  the  blood  of  the  atonement — who  stretches  out 
his  pierced  hands  to  lay  gentle  hold  on  that  soul,  as 
it  is  about  to  forsake  its  own  mercies  and  lose  eter- 
nal life — what,  but  a  heart  of  adamant  could,  with- 
out feeling,  break  away  from  the  Son  of  God,  thus 
wooing,  and  warning,  inviting,  and  entreating  the 
lost  sinner  to  return  and  be  saved?     To  any  mind 
of  ordinary  sensibility,  in  these  first  steps  of  its  de- 
parture, some  degree  of  sorrowful  emotion  is  in- 
evitable.    But  more  especially  will  the  individual 
experience  a  mournful  regret,  when,  for  the  present, 
he  relinquishes  the  prospect  of  heaven   and   eternal 
life.      Man's  self-love,  or  instinctive  desire  for  hap- 
piness, would,  in   such  a  case,  awaken  feelings  of 
sadness.     The  individual  feels  that  he  is  immortal — 
that  he  has  hopes  which  course  onward   through 
eternal  years,  and  that  provision  ought  to  be  made 
for  his  enjoyment,  beyond  the  boundaries  of  earth 
and  time.     The  heaven  which  the  Bible  reveals,  is 
suited  to  these  hopes,  and  to  all  the  far-reaching  de- 
sires and  lofty  aspirations  of  his  spiritual  nature,  and 
is  just  what  he  craves,  could  he  only  obtain  it  with- 
out submitting  to  God's  terms,  and  could  he  go  to 
enjoy  it  after  he  has  worn  himself  out  in  the  plea- 
sures of  sin  and  the  pursuits  of  the  world.     Hence, 
when  he  commences  his  departure  from  Christ,  it  is 
with  a  saddened  heart — "  he  went  away  sorrowful." 
The  scenery  and  blessed  sunlight  of  paradise,  are 
still  in  the  distant  perspective.     Pie  "casts  a  long- 
6 


63  SERMON  III. 

ing,  lingering  look  behind"  him,  on  the  joys  at 
God's  right  hand,  on  the  rivers  of  pleasure  that  are 
there  for  evermore.  He  is  very  sorrowful  to  forego 
the  prospect  of  possessing  them  hereafter.  But  he 
loves  "  the  world,  and  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world "  at  present,  after  them  his  heart  ivill  go, 
though  his  judgment  and  conscience  are  impelling 
him  in  the  opposite  direction.  He  is  sorrowful, 
but  still  he  goes  away,  preferring  the  treasures  of 
earth,  to  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  the  joys 
of  time,  to  the  bliss  of  eternity. 

n.  The  steps  in  this  melancholy  departure  from 
seriousness,  are  gradual — the  individual  making 
no  sudden  and  extreme  change  in  his  habits  of 
outward  attention  to  religious  observances.  Such 
is  the  constitution  of  the  mind  that,  in  most  cases, 
it  cannot  shift  its  habits  suddenly,  and  pass  readily 
to  opposite  extremes.  The  individual,  therefore, 
who  has  been  habituated  to  serious  reflection  and 
excited  emotions  on  the  great  themes  of  religion, 
and  who  has  been  accustomed  to  the  performance  of 
its  external  duties,  cannot  at  once  reverse  these 
habits.  In  such  instances,  the  habitual  action  of  the 
mind  and  heart,  ordinarily  ceases  by  a  \eYj  gradual 
process,  similar  to  that  by  which  the  waves  of  the 
agitated  ocean  continue  after  winds  are  hushed,  to 
course  on,  though  with  a  slow  but  sure  diminution  in 
volume  and  force,  till  at  last  they  subside  in  a  profound 
calm.  If  the  man  who,  to-day,  is  deeply  convicted 
of  sin — anxious  about  his  salvation,  weeping,  and 
inquiring  the  way  of  life — should,  to-morrow,  find 
himself  totally  reckless,  hardened,  and  indifferent, 
the  very  suddenness  of  the  change  would  startle 


SERMON  in.  C3 

him,  and  prove  a  probable  means  of  re-awakening  a 
more  intense  concern  for  his  salvation.  But  when 
Satan's  wiles  and  the  deceitfulness  of  his  own  heart 
are  in  sworn  league  to  destroy  his  seriousness,  to 
lead  him  away  from  Christ,  and  jeopard  his  eternal 
life,  the  plan  is,  to  make  the  transition  from  anxiety 
and  inquiry  to  thoughtlessness  and  hardened  stu- 
pidity, so  gradual,  that  at  no  one  step  shall  the 
sinner  be  aware  of  his  progress,  till  the  last  is  taken. 
The  awakened  man  is  warned  not  to  grieve  away 
from  his  agitated  bosom  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  told 
that  he  may  do  this  by  simply  delaying  to  come  to 
Christ.  Despite  the  warning,  he  still  delays,  and 
yet  he  does  not  perceive  that  he  has  lost  aught  of 
his  seriousness  or  solicitude  about  his  soul.  After 
tlie  lapse  of  some  time,  he  ceases  to  go  to  the  meet- 
ing for  inquiry,  where  he  once  attended  with  an 
anxious,  aching  spirit.  But  he  persuades  himself, 
that  this  is  no  evidence  of  his  declining  concern  for 
eternal  life,  as  he  now  thinks  his  attendance  on  such 
a  meeting  is  not  necessary  to  his  salvation,  and  has 
not  been  hitherto,  of  any  marked  advantage.  He 
resolves,  too,  that  he  will  compensate  for  quitting 
the  place  of  inquiry,  and  the  posture  of  an  inquirer, 
by  maintaining  the  more  spiritual  exercise  of  secret 
prayer.  For  awhile,  he  fulfils  the  letter  of  his 
resolve,  retires  alone,  and  repeats  by  rote  a  form  of 
prayer.  After  some  time,  however,  he  becomes 
more  remiss,  in  this  duty,  engaging  in  it,  only  once, 
instead  of  twice  or  thrice  during  the  day  and  evening, 
as  formerly;  it  then  dvv'indles  into  a  few  broken  eja- 
culations, uttered  in  sleepiness  and  exhaustion,  after 
he  has  retired  to  his  pillow  at  night,  and  soon  he 


64  SERMON  III. 

abandons  it  altogether.  But  he  hopes  to  render  an 
equivalent  for  this  omission,  by  attending  the  weekly 
lecture  and  prayer-meetings  of  the  church,  which  is 
more  than  he  once  did,  and  more  than  he  sees  many 
professors  of  religion  now  do.  When  a  little  far- 
ther advanced  in  this  sad  career,  it  seems  to  him,  that 
he  cannot  well  attend  these  meetings  as  punctually 
as  he  used  to  do,  not,  as  he  supposes,  because  he 
feels  less  interest  in  these  religious  services,  but, 
somehow,  his  circumstances  do  not  afford  him  as 
much  leisure.  So  he  gradually  becomes  less  fre- 
quent in  his  attendance,  till  at  last  he  ceases  to  be 
found  in  the  place  of  social  prayer.  Now,  lest  con- 
science should  be  startled  at  this  delinquency,  he 
determines  that  he  will  be  very  punctual  in  his  at- 
tendance on  public  worship,  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
that  should  the  sanctuary  be  opened  twice  or  thrice 
on  that  day,  his  willing  feet  shall  that  often  tread  its 
sacred  courts.  For  awhile^  this  resolution  is  scru- 
pulously fulfilled.  But,  in  process  of  time,  it  seems 
to  him,  that  the  labours  and  cares  of  the  week  are 
so  exhausting,  that  he  needs  a  portion  of  that  day  for 
physical  rest;  and  the  argument  is  already  at  com- 
mand, that  he  might  better  stay  at  home  than  to 
sleep,  as  he  sees  even  members  of  the  church  doing 
every  Sabbath,  at  public  worship!  And,  as  it  is  a 
universal  concession  that  this  is  a  day  of  rest,  he 
ceases  his  punctual  attendance  in  the  sanctuary,  jus- 
tified in  the  step,  as  he  thinks,  by  the  plea,  that  his 
absence  is  necessary  to  recruit  the  vigour  and  pro- 
mote the  well-being  of  his  physical  nature. 

Thus,  by  a  gradual  and  unperceived  abatement, 
he  gives  up  his  wakeful  anxiety  and  efforts  for  sal- 


SERMON   III.  C5 

ration,  the  process  very  much  resembling  the  state 
of  the  mind,  when  approaching  a  condition  of  soun4 
sleep.  As  we  approach  this  condition,  impressions 
on  the  senses  become  gradually  weaker,  the  thoughts 
are  gradually  withdrawn  from  exciting  subjects,  and 
the  mind  gradually  ceases  its  control  over  its  own 
operations,  till  at  last,  all  the  powers  are  locked  up 
in  undisturbed  repose.  Now,  in  this  physical  pro- 
cess, no  man  is  aware  how  far  he  has  advanced  to- 
wards a  state  of  sound  sleep  by  each  successive  step, 
nor  does  he  know  ivheyi  the  last  is  taken.  He  only 
knows,  when  aroused  again,  that  he  has  been  asleep. 
So  the  awakened  sinner,  by  a  process  gradual  and 
unpcrceived  at  the  time,  sinks  into  profound  and 
guilty  slumbers  in  his  sins,  and  will  scarcely  know 
that  he  is  asleep,  or  how  he  came  into  that  state,  till 
God  shall  either  awaken  him  again  b}^  the  convict- 
ing influences  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  or  startle  and 
astound  him,  by  the  bursting  light  of  a  ruined 
eternity.     And, 

HI.  This  leads  to  the  obvious  remark  in  the  third 
place,  that  this  is  a  most  deceptive  course.  It  is 
a  melancholy  spectacle  to  see  what  deep  deception 
is  practised  on  the  sinner's  mind,  in  his  progress 
from  religious  solicitude,  to  hardened  security  in 
his  impenitence.  He  is  kept,  as  by  some  diabolical 
spell,  from  the  knowledge  of  his  true  moral  condi- 
tion, all  the  while  that  he  is  casting  off  jiis  serious- 
ness, turning  away  from  his  Saviour,  and  foregoing 
the  hope  of  eternal  life.  The  retrograde  movement 
is  so  equable,  and  his  soul  is  borne  along  by  so  in- 
direct an  influence,  that  at  no  point  in  his  downward 
career,  is  the  sinner  sensible  how  far  he  has  gone, 
6* 


66  SERMON  III. 

or  whither  he  is  tending.  Had  he,  on  some  occa- 
sion, formed  a  decided,  bold  determination,  that 
then,  and  there,  he  would  stifle  conviction,  shake  off 
his  seriousness,  and  plunge  headlong  into  the  world 
again,  this  would  constitute  a  point  in  his  course  of 
which  he  could  never  afterwards  be  ignorant.  But 
so  far  from  taking  at  once  a  stand  like  this,  he  is  un- 
willing to  admit  even  to  himself  that  he  is  actually 
ceasing  to  care  for  his  eternal  life,  and  turning  away, 
or  that  he  will  turn  away  from  the  compassionate 
Son  of  God.  He  persuades  himself  that  he  really 
does  not  desire  to  pursue  this  course.  The  thought 
of  doing  so  is  even  painful  to  him.  True,  he  feels 
that  all  is  not  right,  conscience  is  not  satisfied,  and 
yet  he  hardly  knows  whether  or  not  he  is  criminal 
in  the  matter.  That  there  is  a  difference  between  his 
religious  feelings  now,  and  some  time  ago,  he  must 
admit;  but  then  he  supposes  that  it  is  only  the  novel- 
ty of  his  first  serious  emotions  wearing  off,  and  he 
knows  that  by  a  law  of  mind  that  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  continue.  He  is  aware,  too,  that  he  feels 
more  keenly  now  than  he  did  some  time  before,  the 
allurement  and  urgency  of  temporal  interests,  and 
has  a  stronger  desire  to  pursue  and  possess  the  things 
of  the  world;  but  he  infers  that  it  is  not  inconsistent 
with  seriousness  and  piety  itself  for  him  to  feel  thus, 
for  he  sees  many  respectable  members  of  the  church 
who  are  driving  business  with  an  ardour,  and  an  ab- 
sorbing interest,  and  who  are  fired  with  "the  love 
of  money,''  and  are  accumulating  riches  with  a  zeal 
and  a  success,  that  far  outstrip  some  men  of  no  reli- 
gious pretensions.  He  naturally  concludes  that  if 
these  members  of  the    church  can  do  so,  without 


SERMON  in.  67 

losing  their  piety,  he  may  do  the  same  without  do- 
triment  to  his  seriousness  or  danger  to  the  interests 
of  liis  soul.  Thus  is  he  deceived  and  kept  from  the 
commencement  to  tlie  close  of  his  wretched  career 
insensible  to  any  striking  and  ominous  change  in  his 
feelings.  He  sees  not  a  way-mark  to  indicate  his 
progress  in  this  melancholy  course.  In  his  own  ap- 
prehension his  feelings  to-day  are  not  perceptibly  on 
the  decline,  compared  with  what  they  were  yester- 
day, or  even  a  week  or  a  month  ago.  And  then  his 
mind,  in  this  backward  wandering,  still  has  moments 
of  solemn  reflection,  and  of  excited  sensibility  too, 
not  unlike  those  which  marked  the  period  when  his 
attention  was  first  awakened  to  the  interests  of  a  fu- 
ture life.  He  is  assured  therefore,  as  he  supposes, 
that  he  has  not  given  up  all  concern  for  his  soul, 
though  he  may  be  inclined  to  admit  that,  on  the 
whole,  his  zeal  in  this  matter  is  less  fresh  and  fervid 
than  formerly.  But  to  keep  this  admission  from 
ringing  the  alarm  to  conscience,  and  from  rousing 
his  torpid  sensibilities,  he  forms  good  resolutions  of 
cultivating  deeper  feelings  on  this  subject,  and  of  ac- 
tually repenting  and  turning  to  God  with  all  his 
heart,  at  some  more  "convenient  season"  in  the  fu- 
ture. He  feels  great  complacency  in  the  strength 
and  sincerity  of  his  determination  to  attend  to  the 
eternal  interests  of  his  soul,  some  time  hereafter  with 
more  earnestness  and  anxiety  than  ever  before.  He 
hopes  too  that  the  time  will  come,  when  all  his  rela- 
tions in  life,  and  all  the  circumstances  and  incidents 
of  his  condition  and  personal  history,  will  wonder- 
fully coincide,  and  concur  to  enable  him  witli  case 
to  fulfil   this  determination,  and   (o  seek   and   secure 


68  SERMON  iir. 

his  eternal  life.  Thus  these  idle  resolves,  and  falla- 
cious hopes  respecting  the  future,  lull  all  fears  and 
apprehensions  of  losing  his  present  seriousness,  till 
deep  deception  snares  his  soul,  and  entangles  it  in 
toils,  never  to  be  broken  but  by  the  convulsive  strug- 
gles of  death  and  despair! — till  God,  justly  provoked, 
gives  him  over  to  "strong  delusion, that  he  may  be- 
lieve a  lie,"  and  dream  on  of  a  future  repentance,  a 
faith,  a  hope  and  a  heaven,  that  will  never  be  his! 

IV.  Another  fact  deserving  special  notice,  is  that, 
when  this  course  terminates,  as  it  will  ultimately,  in 
the  loss  of  all  serious  concern  for  the  soul,  the  insen- 
sibility of  tfie  sinner  then  is  very  great.  The 
fearful  career  that  we  are  contemplating  is  pre-emi- 
nently adapted  to  harden  the  heart.  It  induces  a 
callousness,  an  induration  of  every  susceptibility  of 
tender  impression,  which  constitutes  God's  mark  on 
the  guilty  ingrate,  who  has 'despised  his  religious 
birthright,  done  despite  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  rejected 
and  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  trifled  with 
his  own  convictions  and  spurned  that  eternal  life 
which  for  a  season  he  "sought  carefully  and  with 
tears."  Nor  is  this  mark  stamped  upon  the  sinner 
arbitrarily. 

In  the  awakening,  and  relapse  of  the  soul,  we  can 
trace  the  operation  of  causes  adapted  according  to 
the  very  constitution  of  the  mind,  to  produce  the 
profound  and  imperturbable  stupidity  which  suc- 
ceeds. During  the  period  of. religious  excitement, 
the  soul  is  necessarily  subject  to  an  incalculable 
draught  on  its  natural  sympathies.  Its  whole  capa- 
city of  deep  and  troubled  emotion,  is  taxed  to  the  ut- 
most.    Tiie  feelings  are  wrought  up  to  such  a  pitch 


SERMON  III.  6y 

of  intensity,  that  when  they  begin  to  descend  they 
must,  by  a  law  of  our  nature,  sink  far  below  their 
ordinary  level.  In  the  grief  of  a  sudden  and  sore 
bereavement,  we  often  witness  an  exhaustion  and 
collapse  of  the  sensibilities,  that  seem  to  dry  up  the 
fountain  of  his  tears,  and  for  a  season  petrify  the 
mourner  in  a  strange  and  calm  indifference  to  every 
thing,  even  to  the  sources  of  his  own  sorrow.  The 
same  is  equally  true  of  all  that  anxiety  and  anguish 
of  the  awakened  sinner  which  fail  of  bringing  him  to 
Christ,  for  healing  and  peace.  His  moral  suscepti- 
bilities have  been  stimulated  and  wrought  upon  in- 
tensely, by  the  motives  which  God  has  pressed  upon 
him,  during  the  season  of  his  seriousness.  Think, 
for  a  moment,  my  hearers,  what  an  agitating  excite- 
ment must  be  produced,  by  the  motives  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  brings  to  bear  on  the  sensibilities  of  an 
awakened  soul.  His  ruin  as  a  lost  sinner — his  hei- 
nous guilt,  in  the  sight  of  a  holy  God — the  awful 
perils  of  his  present  impenitent  condition — God's 
wrath  now  abiding  upon  him,  frowns,  darkness,  and 
curses  hanging  over  his  pathway  here,  and  the  woes 
of  an  eternal  hell,  in  prospect  hereafter,  all  plying 
his  passion  of  fear!  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  all  the 
everlasting  love  of  God  in  the  gift  of  his  Son,  the  life 
of  sorrow  and  the  dying  compassion  of  Jesus — all 
the  wonders,  and  all  the  glories  of  the  cross,  bearing 
upon  the  sinner's  sense  of  gratitude,  and  of  infinite 
obligation.  Pardon,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  believing 
now — divine  protection,  smiles,  sunshine  and  show- 
ers of  spiritual  blessings  on  his  way  here,  and  eter- 
nal triumphs  and  seraphic  ecstasies  ineffable  hereaf- 
ter in  heaven,  bearing  directly  on    the   passion  of 


70  SERMON  III. 

hope,  and  all  these  motives  presented  in  the  illumina- 
tion, and  by  the  unseen,  but  Almighty  influences  of 
the  Holy  Ghost!  What  must  be  the  effect  of  a 
stimulus,  so  incalculably  powerful  as  this,  on  the 
susceptibilities  of  the  soul  ?  Why,  that  soul  Tnxist 
either  sweetly  yield  to  the  influence,  and  experience 
a  change,  that  will  ever  afterwards  hold  it  subject  to 
be  thus  swaj-ed,  or  it  tnust  resist  this  awful  aggre- 
gate of  motive,  and  experience  in  consequence  a 
prostration,  an  exhaustion,  a  swooning  and  spiritual 
lethargy  that  will  paralyze  all  its  powers  in  a  seared 
and  senseless  inactivity.  This  truth  receives  confir- 
mation from  the  analogy  furnished  in  the  use  of  na- 
tural stimuli.  The  more  potent  such  stimulus,  the 
deeper  and  more  dreadful  is  the  physical  depression 
that  ensues.  Of  this  fact  delirium  tremens  is  an 
awful  illustration  !  But  the  sinner  who  has  been  thus 
stimulated  by  the  motives  of  God's  truth,  and  had  all 
his  powers  roused  and  held  for  a  season  in  intense 
excitement,  and  who  then  casts  off  his  seriousness, 
has  something  more  than  the  stupifying  languor  that 
succeeds  mere  stimulation;  he  has  the  hardening 
influence  exerted  by  the  positive  and  powerful  re- 
sistance which  he  has  made  to  these  motives,  and 
to  the  strivings  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  These  two 
causes,  combined  and  operating  in  their  full  force  un- 
checked, will  at  last  present  the  sinner  as  a  spectacle 
of  profound  insensibility  to  the  eternal  life  of  the 
soul,  appalling  to  the  universe.  The  poet's  couplet, 
originally  applied  to  the  atheist,  but  faintly  describes 
the  spiritual  condition  of  such  a  one: 

"In  him,  all  nature's  sympathies  are  still, 
His  bosom  owns  no  throb,  his  heart  no  thrill."  \ 


SERMON   III.  71 

''  Twice  dead  and  plucked  up  by  the  roots,"  is  he 
not  in  a  condition  sadly  portentous  of  becoming  fuel 
for  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched? 

V.  It  is  obvious  to  remark,  in  this  connexion,  that 
when  this  course  ends  as  now  described,  in  a  total 
loss  of  all  thoughtfulness  and  in  so  profound  insensi- 
bility on  the  entire  subject  of  religion,  it  leaves  the 
soul  in  a  state  from  ivhich  all  prospect  of  its  re- 
covery  is  extremely  dark  and  doubtful.  It  is  pro- 
per here  to  recall  your  attention  to  the  sad  and  omin- 
ous fact  in  this  melancholy  narrative,  that  after  this 
young  man  had  refused  the  conditions  of  eternal  life, 
and  "went  away  sorrowful,"  neither  sacred  nor  pro- 
fane annals  utter  a  syllable  in  reference  to  his  sub- 
sequent religious  state  !  Our  text  constitutes  the 
closing  sentence  of  his  moral  history  on  earth.  We 
have  no  record  informing  us,  that  this  amiable  youth 
was  one  of  the  thousands  converted  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  or  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian church  at  Jerusalem,  or  a  follower  of  Paul,  or 
of  any  other  apostle.  To  the  ear  of  the  soul,  the 
very  silence  of  God's  oracles  respecting  him,  has  an 
articulate,  piercing  utterance  more  powerful  than 
words,  telling  the  guilty  hopelessness  of  his  condi- 
tion !  After  the  period  to  which  our  text  refers,  he 
probably  never  raised  a  serious  inquiry  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  salvation,  never  again  felt  any  deep  or 
special  concern  about  eternal  life.  It  is  an  affecting 
fact,  amply  attested  by  the  observation  of  all  pastors 
who  have  been  long  in  the  field  of  labour,  that  those 
who  have  been  once  deeply  convicted  of  sin,  and 
have  gone  through  the  ordinary  steps  of  anxiety, 
agitation,  weeping,  praying  and  serious  inquiry  re- 


72  SERMON  III. 

specting  salvation,  and  then  have  turned  back  and 
sunk  again  into  the  deep  sleep  and  security  in  sin, 
which  follow,  are  the  last,  and  rarest  cases  of  conver- 
sion that  ever  occur  under  the  ministrations  of  the 
gospel!  Two  reasons  present  themselves  here,  to 
prove  the  condition  of  such  to  be  wofully  dark  and 
hopeless.  First,  all  that  is  new,  and  striking  in  the 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  the  motives  from 
God's  word  which  once  awakened  and  startled  them, 
has  now  become  familiar,  and,  as  it  were,  worn  out 
upon  them.  All  the  means  of  grace  are  robbed  of 
that  exciting  novelty  which  they  had,  when  for  the 
first  they  were  accompanied  with  a  divine  light,  and 
energy  in  awakening  the  soul.  All  that  was  strange 
and  new,  and  urgently  noticeable  in  the  very  feeling 
itself  of  being  awakened  is  now  gone.  On  the  great 
theme  of  eternal  life,  all  their  sensibilities  have  al- 
ready been  once  thoroughly  exhausted.  The  whole 
soul  has  been  burnt  over,  scathed  and  blackened  by 
the  lightnings  of  the  divine  law,  and  the  fire,  and 
the  hammer  of  God's  Spirit  and  word,  having  failed 
to  melt  or  to  break  the  heart  of  stone,  have  spent 
their  combined  action  on  it  only  to  result  in  an  in- 
creased hardness  rivalling  that  of  the  adamant  itself! 
The  power  of  resistance  also,  which  such  persons 
exercise,  and  which  has  been  necessary  to  enable 
them  after  all  their  anxieties  to  turn  away  from  the 
Son  of  God,  is  greatly  augmented  and  fortified.  O! 
how  hopeless  is  their  condition!  The  second  rea- 
son why  they  are  never  likely  to  be  rescued  from 
this  perilous  state,  is  that  they  have  an  unconquera- 
ble dislike,  and  even  a  kind  of  horror  at  the  thought 
of  being  RE-awakened.     The  remembrance  of  their 


SERMON  iir.  73 

former  seriousness  comes  over  them,  like  a  dark  and 
troubled  dream,  which  they  instinctively  wish  may 
never  be  rcj)eated.  They  suppose  too  that  they  have 
gone  as  far  and  done  as  much  to  secure  eternal  life 
as  they  can,  and  that  if  they  are  ever  saved,  it  will 
have  to  be  by  some  mystic,  charm-like  influence 
which  shall  overpower  them,  and  do  tlie  work  in  an 
instant  without  requiring  of  them  any  special  con- 
cern or  application  of  mind  in  the  matter.  Hence 
they  greatly  dread  the  prospect  of  being  convicted 
of  sin  and  really  awakened  again,  of  going  through 
tedious  days  or  weeks  of  fruitless  anxiety,  weeping 
and  prayer  as  they  have  heretofore  done.  The  mere 
thought  that  they  should  again  have  the  awful  dis- 
closure of  their  guilt  and  ruin,  the  agitating  fears 
and  forebodings  of  God's  wrath,  and  should  feel  the 
strivings  of  his  Spirit,  and  the  urgency  of  all  the 
motives  to  repent  and  submit  to  Christ  as  they  once 
did,  fills  them  with  revolting  and  horror.  And  as 
they  have  resolved  for  the  present  to  cling  to  the 
world  and  live  on  impenitent,  they  therefore  make 
a  decided  and  active  resistance  to  all  efforts  and 
means  used  for  their  awakening  and  conversion. 
This,  together  with  the  awful  probability  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  abandoned,  or  will  soon  abandon 
them  judicially,  renders  their  recovery  and  salvation, 
to  human  view,  amongst  the  most  doubtful  and  im- 
probable of  future  events.  The  compassionate  Son 
of  God,  pitying  angels  in  heaven,  and  weeping  saints 
on  earth,  may  yearn  over  them  and  pour  upon  them 
the  tide  of  their  sympathies  and  the  melting  strains 
of  their  expostulation  and  entreaty;  but  they  feel  not, 
they  hear  not,  they  heed  not  all  the  combining  influ- 

7 


74  SERMON  III. 

ences  of  heaven  and  earth  for  their  salvation  !  They 
have  gone  away  from  Christ  "  sorrowful"  in  the 
commencement,  and  their  gloomy  and  only  prospect 
now  is,  to  wander  on  in  eternal  banishment  from  his 
presence,  and  the  glory  of  his  power ! 

Lastly.  This  course  which  we  have  been  de- 
scribing, when  persisted  in,  renders  the  sinner  lia- 
ble to  a  more  keen  and  cutting  remorse  through 
time  and  in  eternity,  than  a  career  of  ordinary 
impenitence. 

My  impenitent  hearers  of  this  class,  however 
reckless  and  hardened  you  may  become,  you  can 
never  wholly  forget  that  you  have  once  been  awa- 
kened by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  deep  seriousness  and 
agitating  solicitude  respecting  the  eternal  life  of 
your  souls.  All  your  subsequent  unconcern  and 
immoveable  stupidity,  can  never  annihilate  from  the 
records  of  memory,  the  solemn  fact  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  striven  with  you,  and  that  you  have  had 
a  season  of  aching  anxiety  about  your  salvation. 
That  fact,  once  registered  on  the  tablet  of  the  soul, 
will  remain  there  through  the  immortality  of  your 
being!  And  it  is  that  fact  which  lays  the  founda- 
tion for  a  bitter  regret  and  consuming  remorse, 
which  can  only  be  felt  by  the  once  awakened  sin- 
ner. During  certain  periods  of  your  present  life,  I 
am  aware,  you  may  manage  to  give  over  this  ungra- 
cious fact  to  a  partial  and  temporary  oblivion.  In 
the  days  of  your  prosperity  you  will  not  be  trou- 
bled with  the  sad  remembrance  of  your  former  ship- 
wrecked seriousness.  But,  what  security  have  you 
that  in  those  inevitable  seasons  of  adversity  which  are 
the  common  lot  of  mortals,  you  will  not  have  visi- 


SERMON  III.  75 

tations  from  the  past,  presenting  obliterated  leaves  of 
memory,  legible  again,  that  will  harrow  your  very 
soul?  When  death  desolates  your  home  and  dashes 
from  your  lips  the  hitherto  sparkling  and  over- 
flowing bowl  of  domestic  joy,  and  wrings  your  heart 
with  a  lonely  anguish,  which  turns  in  vain  to  any 
earthly  source  for  healing  ;  when  you  feel  that  God's 
frown  is  upon  you,  and  that  you  are  shut  out  from 
his  sympathies  and  solace,  memory  will  then  awake 
and  bring  vividly  before  you  that  past  precious  sea- 
son of  your  seriousness,  when  God  wooed  you  to 
his  bosom  as  your  asylum  from  all  the  woes  of  your 
mortal  and  immortal  being:  and  the  remembrance 
of  the  slight  you  then  offered  to  his  grace,  and  the 
deliberate  manner  in  which  you  spurned  his  mercy, 
will  pierce  you  with  an  indescribable  regret  and"  re- 
morse! So  when  your  own  brief  life  shall  close, 
and  you  lie  down  to  die,  and  you  feel  that  you  must 
then  be  for  ever  torn  from  that  world  which  you 
preferred  and  clung  to,  instead  of  to  Christ  and  to 
eternal  life — when  earth  is  receding  and  fading  from 
your  view,  and  eternity  just  opening  the  vision  of 
its  realities  upon  j^our  soul,  0 !  how  will  the  re- 
collection of  that  favoured  period,  when  God  pleaded 
with  you,  and  you  were  almost  persuaded  to  pre- 
pare for  these  solemnities,  come  over  your  heart 
with  a  train  of  regrets  and  remorse,  cold  and  cut- 
ting as  the  edge  of  that  knife  which  is  then  sever- 
ing the  ties  between  soul  and  body !  The  thorn  in 
your  dying  pillow  will  wind  deeper,  and  pierce 
with  a  keener  smart  than  that  in  the  pillow  of  him 
who  has  never  been  awakened.  And,  after  the  en- 
hanced pangs  of  your  dissolution  are  over,  and  you 


76  SERMON  III. 

have  stood  before  the  tribunal  of  your  God,  and  re- 
ceived the  sentence  of  your  final  doom,  as  you  go 
away  in  heavy  wo,  from  the  glories  and  the  bliss  of 
a  lost  heaven,  you  will  remember  that  here  on  earth 
you  once  had  a  "day  of  merciful  visitation;'^  when 
God  by  his  powerful  word  and  Almighty  Spirit,  by 
his  ministering  servants,  by  the  solemnities  of  the 
Sabbath  and  the  sanctuary,  by  the  prayers  and  tears 
of  his  people,  by  the  sympathies  of  the  awakened, 
and  the  songs  of  the  converted  around  you,  entreat- 
ed, and  conjured  you,  to  secure  for  yourself  the  joys 
of  this  bright  world!  You  then  "felt  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come;"  your  heart  was  tender,  you 
wept  and  prayed,  and  at  one  time,  were,  perhaps, 
on  the  very  point  of  yielding  yourself  unreservedly 
to  the  Saviour,  were  within  a  single  step  of  the  fa- 
vour of  God,  and  a  title  to  this  heaven;  but  you 
"went  away,"  and  lost  for  ever  the  infinite  blessings 
then  within  your  reach!  0!  the  regret,  the  deep 
and  everlasting  remorse,  that  will  corrode  and  canker 
the  soul,  as  memory  haunts  you  with  the  spectres 
of  the  murdered  hours  of  your  period  of  seriousness 
and  anxiety  about  salvation.  "This  your  way  is 
your  folly;"  it  is  a  gloomy  and  troubled  way,  be- 
yond that  of  ordinary  impenitence.  It  will  mingle 
an  element  of  wo  in  your  eternal  doom,  that  will 
not  be  found  in  the  perdition  of  those  who  have 
never  enjoyed  and  despised  a  season  of  awakening 
and  concern  respecting  the  future  life  of  the  soul! 
Remorse,  remorse,  for  having  grieved  the  Spirit  of 
God,  stifled  your  own  convictions,  contemned  the 
mercies  of  your  own  seriousness,  and  spurned  the 
joys  of  heaven  pressed  on  your  acceptance,  will  con- 


SERMON  III.  77 

stitute  that  undying  scorpion  of  hell,  wliose  insuf- 
ferable stings  will  inflict  on  you  the  giant  pang,  and 
extort  from  you  the  great  sweat  of  damnation's 
agony! 

In  view  of  this  subject,  permit  me,  in  the  first 
place,  to  plead  with  you,  my  young  friends,  who 
are  still  capable  of  feeling  tenderly  respecting  your 
salvation,  not  to  trifle  with  your  religious  sensi- 
bilities, and  harden  your  hearts  against  God.  If 
you  remain  impenitent  till  you  are  more  advanced 
in  life,  and  conscience  then  becomes  roused,  to  make 
you  see  your  danger  and  your  duty,  you  will  look 
back  with  unspeakable  melancholy,  to  the  present 
time,  and  wish  in  vain  then,  that  you  possessed  the 
capability  of  tender  and  keen  emotion,  which  you 
now  do.  Prize  and  improve  this  spring-time  of 
your  youthful  hearts — this  period  of  easily  excited 
sensibility.  What  a  blessed  facility  it  gives  you  for 
securing  eternal  life!  If  you  could  be  with  pastors 
when  they  converse  with  the  middle-aged  and  the 
old,  and  urge  them  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  and 
could  you  hear  them  sigh  and  lament  over  the  loss 
of  "the  dew  of  their  youth,"  their  tender  and  easily 
awakened  feelings  at  that  period;  could  you  see,  as 
we  sometimes  do,  the  awful  consequences  of  wasting 
the  generous  and  acute  sensibilities  of  the  young 
heart  in  sin ;  0  !  did  you  know  what  a  dire  and  hope- 
less hardness  and  stupidity  sear  the  souls  of  those 
who  have  long  resisted  the  influences  of  the  means 
of  grace,  you  would  not  dare  take  one  step  in  so 
perilous  a  career!  You  can  now  feel  on  tlic  great 
subject  of  your  salvation.  You  can  be  melted  into 
tears  at  the  love  and  sorrows  of  Calvary.     The  fa- 


78  SERMON  III. 

vour  of  God  and  the  hope  of  heaven,  still  exert  a 
subduing  influence  on  your  hearts,  and  stir  you  to 
serious  thought,  and  some  effort  to  secure  the  inte- 
rests of  your  souls.  But  if  you  go  away,  refusing 
offered  mercy,  rejecting  Christ,  grieving  the  Holy 
Spirit,  stifling  your  convictions,  and  banishing  seri- 
ous thought  and  emotion,  you  too  will  sink  down 
into  the  "waveless  calm,  the  slumber  of  the  dead,^^ 
and  wake  no  more  till  "trumpets  call  you"  to  your 
eternal  doom! 

Finally.  A  word  to  those  of  you  whose  me- 
lancholy course  and  condition  have  now  been  de- 
scribed, and  I  shall  have  finished  my  appeal  on  this 
occasion. 

You  have  had  your  seasons  of  deep  solicitude  re- 
specting your  eternal  well-being,  and  you  have  been 
led  earnestly  to  inquire,  what  you  must  do  to  be 
saved.  But,  you  have  gone  away  from  the  Sa- 
viour, abandoned  gradually  all  seriousness  on  the 
subject,  and  have  had  a  long  interval  of  unconcern 
and  reckless  stupidity.  This  being  your  state,  per- 
mit me  to  ask  you  a  question  or  two,  which  I  de- 
voutly pray  the  Spirit  of  God  may  carry  with  point 
to  your  consciences  and  hearts.  Has  that  blessed 
aggrieved  Spirit  returned  to  your  deserted  souls 
lately,  and  awakened  in  you  again  some  tender,  so- 
lemn feeling?  Have  you  been  JYiduced  to  think  se- 
riously about  your  salvation?  Have  you  recently 
been  urged  to  make  some  efforts,  secretly,  if  not 
openly,  to  secure  eternal  life?  0  !  is  there  to-day 
a  lingering  emotion  of  tenderness  and  solemnity,  a 
silent  aching  of  your  hearts,  in  view  of  the  sad 
trutlis  presented  in  this  discourse?     My  dear  hear- 


SERMON  III.  79 

ers,  this  is  the  Spirit's  returning  ^^  rising  beam," 
after  the  long  night  of  your  insensibility.  0  !  hail 
it!  0!  fan  the  spark  by  the  breath  of  incessant, 
fervent  prayer  !  Let  the  goodness  of  God,  in  again 
giving  you  one  moment  of  serious  thought  and 
tender  feeling  on  this  subject,  melt  you  into  contri- 
tion at  his  feet.  It  is  a  wonderful  display  of  "  the 
riches  of  his  goodness,  and  forbearance,  and  long- 
suffering,"  that  God  should  permit  his  insulted  Spi- 
rit still  to  hover  nigh,  and  spread  the  wing  of  his 
gracious  influences  over  you. 

Sinner,  once  awakened  sinner,  this  may  be  your 
last  call!  God,  not  willing  that  you  should  perish, 
has  sent  the  Holy  Dove  to  urge  you  this  once  more 
to  make  your  peace  with  heaven.  This  is  the  rea- 
son why  "  thy  hard  and  impenitent  heart"  has  this 
momentary  feeling  of  tenderness  and  concern  about 
salvation.  Trifle  but  this  once  more — grieve  that 
Spirit  away  for  this  time  only,  and  God  may  de- 
part from  you  for  ever,  give  you  up  to  an  incurable 
hardness  of  heart,  and  seal  you  the  changeless  victim 
of  your  own  folly,  till  "the  day  of  judgment,  and 
perdition  of  ungodly  men  !" 


80  SERMON  IV. 


SERMON   IV. 


"  In  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  nation,  among  whom  ye 
shine  as  lights  in  the  world." — Phil.  ii.  15. 

One  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  Paul's 
epistolary  writings,  is  his  anxiety  and  zeal  to  pro- 
mote the  personal  holiness  of  Christians.  The  in- 
genuity and  urgency  with  which  he  brings  every 
variety  of  motive  adapted  to  advance  their  spiritu- 
ality, and  elevate  the  standard  of  piety  amongst  the 
early  disciples,  is  no  doubtful  proof,  that  he  saw  the 
relations  and  importance  of  personal  holiness  in  a 
light  in  which  they  are  not  ordinarily  viewed.  The 
Apostle  was  a  true  Christian  philosopher.  He  had 
studied  God's  plan  of  redeeming  our  world,  with 
the  care  and  profound  interest  which  its  intrinsic 
importance  deserved.  He  had  contemplated  the 
character  of  the  world  that  was  to  be  redeemed,  the 
kind  of  agency  or  instrumentality  adapted  to  secure 
its  redemption,  the  design  of  God  in  organizing  and 
perpetuating  a  Church  on  earth,  and  the  grand  end 
to  be  subserved,  by  detaining  the  followers  of  Christ 
in  this  state  of  probation,  instead  of  taking  them  at 
once  to  a  state  of  glory.  In  this  investigation,  the 
discriminating  mind  of  Paul  clearly  discovered,  that 
the  influence  of  the  vital  piety  of  Christians  stood 
inseparably  connected  with  the  best  interests  of  the 
human  race  for  two  worlds. 


SERMON  IV.  81 

This  he  knew  to  he  the  main  instrumentality  or- 
dained of  God  for  the  redemption  of  men.  And, 
accordingly,  we  find  that  in  all  his  epistles,  this  sub- 
ject, the  personal  holiness  of  Christians,  is  promi- 
nent. In  all  the  doctrines,  precepts,  and  exhorta- 
tions, which  he  presents,  his  ultimate  aim  is  the  at- 
tainment of  this  great  end.  In  his  letter  to  the 
Christians  at  Philippi,  he  exhorts  them  to  work  out 
their  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  and 
encourages  them  to  do  this,  by  the  gracious  assu- 
rance that  it  is  God  that  works,  and  will  work  in 
them,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure. 
But,  lest  they  should  think  that  their  duty  began 
and  ended  with  themselves  exclusively,  he  goes  on 
to  say — "Do  all  things  without  murmurings  and 
disputings,  that  ye  may  be  blameless  and  harmless, 
the  sons  of  God,  without  rebuke,  in  the  midst  of  a 
crooked  and  perverse  nation,^mong  whom  ye  shine 
as  lights  in  the  world. ^^ 

I  shall  take  occasion  from  these  words, 

I.  To  notice  the  kind  of  luorld  in  which  Chris- 
tians live — "a  crooked  and  perverse  nation." 

II.  The  kind  of  influence  which  Christians  are 
to  exert  upon  the  world — "among  whom  ye  shine 
as  lights  in  the  world;"  and 

III.  Their  obligations  to  exert  this  influence. 
According  to  this  plan,  your  attention  is, 

I.  Directed  to  the  kind  ofwoYld  in  which  Chris- 
tians live, — "A  crooked  and  perverse  nation." — 
These  two  terms,  "crooked  and  perverse,"  have 
reference  both  to  the  opinions  and  practice  of  the 
world;  and  the  least  that  they  can  mean  in  this 
connexion,  is,  that  the  world  is  erroneous  in  its 
opinions,  and  wrong  in  its  practice. 


83  SERMON  IV. 

That  both  these  allegations  are  true,  human  his- 
tory amply  attests.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  reli- 
gious opinions  and  practice  of  the  world.  It  is  a 
crooked  world,  then,  in  respect  to  the  opinions 
which  it  entertains  of  the  ever  blessed  God.  The 
majority  of  the  world  rarely  think  of  God  at  all ; 
and  when  they  do  bestow  a  passing  thought  upon 
him,  it  is  only  to  take  some  distorted  view  of  his 
character.  The  opinions  of  the  world  respecting 
God,  are  divided  into  three  great  classes: 

I.  Some  men  can  see  nothing  in  God  but  the  at- 
tributes of  an  almighty  and  gloomy  tyrant. — 
They  regard  him  as  a  being  that  has  set  himself  in 
opposition  to  their  happiness,  arbitrarily  imposing 
restraints  on  them,  and  through  a  capricious  ma- 
levolence, denouncing  infinite  woes  as  the  conse- 
quence of  their  sins.  The  riches  of  his  goodness, 
and  forbearance,  and  l^g-sufTering,  they  cannot  see, 
though  they  themselves  are  participants,  to  a  large 
extent,  in  these  blessings.  They  never  contemplate 
God,  as  affixing  the  penalty  to  his  law,  and  punish- 
ing the  finally  incorrigible  rebel,  through  that  infi- 
nite benevolence  that  seeks  to  prevent  sin,  and  pro- 
mote the  holiness  and  happiness  of  the  universe. 
And,  because  the  gospel  makes  the  requirements  of 
faith,  and  repentance,  and  a  holy  life,  and  threatens 
a  sorer  punishment  to  those  who  wilfully  reject  its 
precious  provisions;  they  never  see  the  glories  of 
divine  mercy,  in  which  God  there  exhibits  himself. 
Their  entire  opinion  of  God,  is,  that  he  is  "a  hard 
master,  reaping  where  he  has  not  sown,  and  gather- 
ing where  he  has  not  strewed."  This  is  an  exten- 
sively prevalent  opinion  in  the  world,  alike  de- 


SERMON  IV.  83 

grading  to  the  infinite  majesty  of  Jehovah,  and  inju- 
rious to  the  souls  of  men. 

II.  But  there  is  a  second  class  of  men,  who  en- 
tertain opinions  of  God  equally  erroneous,  though 
they  are  precisely  the  opposite  extreme  of  those 
just  noticed.  This  class  think  him  "  to  be  alto- 
gether such  a  one  as  themselves."  They  regard 
God  as  taking  but  little  concern  in  the  affairs  of  this 
world.  They  view  him  as  a  very  great  and  good 
being — too  great  and  too  good  to  busy  himself  with 
the  petty  interests  of  men,  or  to  be  strict  to  mark 
their  iniquities  in  this  world.  They  suppose  that 
God  has  very  much  the  same  estimate  of  things 
which  they  have ;  that  he  views  their  character  and 
conduct  very  much  as  they  do  themselves;  that  he 
is  too  merciful  ever  to  permit  his  creatures  to  be 
lost  and  miserable,  let  them  do  what  they  may. — 
Such  are  the  latitudinous  views  which  they  have  of 
the  whole  character  of  God,  that  they  indulge  the 
vague  hope,  that  irrespective  of  their  moral  charac- 
ter, their  taste,  their  habits,  and  the  entire  tenor  of 

.  a  sinful  life,  he  will  make  them  all  alike  happy  in  a 
future  state.  They  have  no  belief  in  the  attribute 
of  his  retributive  justice.  They  are  a  "crooked" 
class.  Their  views  are  so  wholly  distorted,  that 
they  see  nothing  in  the  character  of  God  but  a  blind, 
indiscriminate,  unmingled  pity,  that  will  arbitrarily 
bless  all  rational  creatures  with  everlasting  happi- 
ness, whatever  their  character  and  moral  conduct 
may  be. 

III.  There  is  a  third  class,  who  think  of  God  as 
a  kind  of  jjersonificaiioii  of  universal  nature. 
The  evidences  of  his  physical  omnipotence,  which 


84  SERMON  IV. 

they  see  in  the  wonders  of  creation,  in  all  that  is 
sublime  in  the  scenery  of  earth  and  ocean  by  day, 
and  the  starry  heavens  by  night;  these,  in  their  opi- 
nion, constitute  God — all  the  God  in  which  they 
believe.  Their  notions  of  God  are  confined  exclu- 
sively to  one  natural  attribute — his  omnipotence. 
They  exclude  all  his  moral  perfections,  and  even 
their  opinion  of  Omnipotence  differs  not  materially 
from  the  old  pagan  philosophy,  respecting  a  blind 
First  Cause,  acting  with  irresistible  power,  in  pro- 
ducing all  the  changes  that  pass  upon  matter.  Hence, 
they  use  the  term  nature  to  designate  all  that  they 
mean  by  God.  It  is  a  vague  notion  of  some  kind 
of  blind  power,  that  acts  irresistibly,  and  at  random, 
in  the  great  chain  of  physical  cause  and  effect.  That 
God  is  a  righteous  moral  governor,  holy,  just,  wise, 
rewarding  and  punishing  his  subjects  according  to 
their  character  and  deeds,  that  he  is  faithful  and 
true,  that  he  is  the  author  of  a  glorious  plan  of  re- 
demption, in  which  he  exercises  infinite  mercy  to 
the  guilty  and  the  lost,  through  the  atonement  of 
Christ,  these  things  never  enter  into  their  concep- 
tions of  God  ! 

How  true  it  is,  that  "the  world  by  wisdom  knew 
not  God,"  but  "became  vain  in  their  imagina- 
tions, and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  *  And 
even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate 
mind."  In  respect  to  its  opinions  about  God,  this 
is  the  kind  of  world  in  which  Christians  live — a 
crooked  world,  where  the  most  distorted  and  erro- 
neous views  of  the  character  of  the  blessed  God 
prevail.     But 


SERMON  IV.  85 

2.  It  is  a  world  as  perverse,  in  practice,  as  it  is 
crooked  or  erroneous  in  opinion.  This  is  but  the 
legitimate  consequence  of  distorted  views  of  the  Di- 
vine character.  Wrong  opinions  on  any  practical 
subject,  necessarily  lead  to  wrong  practice.  The 
perverseness  of  the  w^orld  is  modified  by  the  three 
classes  of  erroneous  opinions  respecting  God,  which 
constitute  its  crookedness.  Those  who  regard  God 
onlyas  an  almighty,  arbitrary  tyrant,  who  has  set  him- 
self in  capricious  array  against  their  happiness,  will, 
of  course,  manifest  an  open  hostility  to  Him.  Their 
enmity  is  stirred  b}^  every  thing  associated  with 
God.  They  regard  him  as  their  enemy,  and  they 
treat  him  as  such.  They  practise  an  unblushing 
and  determinate  rebellion !  They  openly  resist  his 
authority,  reject  all  his  claims,  violate  his  laws,  and 
attempt  to  vindicate  their  conduct  in  doing  so,  by 
the  plea,  that  all  the  restraints  which  God  imposes 
on  them,  are  wanton  abridgments  of  their  happiness, 
and  evidences  that  God  inclines  to  make  them  mise- 
rable, for  the  mere  sake  of  their  suffering.  This 
class  of  practice,  wrong,  perverse  practice,  includes 
all  the  neglecters  of  church  and  divine  ordinances 
— those  who  violate  the  Sabbath — who  refuse  to 
read  their  Bibles — reject  the  gospel  in  wrath,  and  set 
themselves  in  open  and  avowed  opposition  to  all  re- 
ligion. Again.  Those  whose  crooked,  distorted 
opinions  of  God  lead  them  to  regard  him  as  a  being 
of  but  one  attribute,  and  that  a  blind,  indiscriminate 
mercy,  which  will  save  all,  let  them  live  as  they 
may^  pursue  a  practice  different  from  that  just  no- 
ticed, though  equally  perverse  and  wrong.  They 
turn  the  grace  of  God  into  licentiousness.  Tliey 
S 


86  •  SERMON  IV. 

practically  reject  the  gospel,  because  they  have  such 
views  of  the  mercy  of  God,  that  the  provisions  of 
the  gospel  are  to  them  unnecessary .  They  feel  no 
concern  to  have  the  moral  character  to  which  the 
gospel  is  designed  to  form  man,  nor  to  pursue  the 
course  of  conduct  it  prescribes,  nor  to  comply  with 
the  conditions  of  salvation  which  it  reveals,  nor  to 
exemplify  the  pure  and  lofty  spirit  it  inspires.  They 
give  up  the  reins  to  passion  and  appetite,  not  through 
an  avowed  and  open  resistance  to  the  claims  of  God 
upon  them  to  be  holy,  but  because  God  is  so  good 
that  he  will  not  punish  them  for  their  sins.  Thus 
they  violate  his  law,  reject  the  gospel,  and  indulge 
without  restraint  in  sin,  professing  all  the  while  to 
honour  God's  benevolence  and  mercy,  so  much  as 
to  believe  that  he  will  take  care  of  their  happiness 
hereafter,  whatever  may  be  their  character  and  prac- 
tice here.  This  class  of  perverse  practice,  includes 
all  those  who  support  and  maintain  latitudinarian 
schemes  of  religion,  or,  who  have  a  liberality  of 
sentiment  that  makes  it  a  matter  of  comparative  in- 
difference where  they  attend  the  administration  of 
the  gospel,  or  whether  they  attend  it  and  main- 
tain any  outward  forms  of  religion  at  all.  They 
live  at  ease,  "  serve  divers  lusts  and  pleasures," 
profess  great  regard  for  God  in  words,  and  in  works 
deny  him;  their  hearts  and  lives  as  uninfluenced 
by  the  quickening,  transforming,  and  purifying  spi- 
rit of  the  gospel,  as  though  they  were  arrayed  in 
the  most  open  and  virulent  unbelief,  and  hostility 
to  God  and  his  holy  word. 

The  last  class  of  perverse  practice  of  the  world, 
results  from  those  crooked  views  of  God,  which 


SERMON  IV.  87 

make  lilm  nothing  more  than  a  blind  physical  cause 
of  the   wonders   of  creation.     Sticli  views   lead  to 
practlcdl  atheism.     There  arc  those  under  the  gos- 
pel wiiose  practice  shows  that  they  have  no  clear 
belief  of  the  existence  of  God.     They  live  a  pure- 
ly animal  life,  follow  their  instincts  and  their  ap- 
petites, seldom,  or    never  think  of  an    hereafter: 
God  is  not  in  all  their  thoughts;  they  seem  to  have 
no  sense  of  moral  obligation,  pay  no  regard  to  the 
word,  worship,  and  ordinances  of  God,  evince   no 
religious  sensibility  on  any  occasion,  and  are  lite- 
rally in  practice  ^^  without   God  hi  the  world  T^ 
They  have  no  states  of  mind,  no  emotions,  and  they 
put  forth  no  actions,  that  are  influenced  by  a  serious 
and  practical  belief  of  the  being  of  a  God  !     To  sup- 
ply their  physical  wants,  and  to  attain  mere  physi- 
cal enjoyment,  is  the  supreme  aim,  the   great  go- 
verning purpose  of  their  lives!     Their  whole  prac- 
tice is  regulated  exclusively  with  reference  to  these. 
Besides  these,  there  is  a  class  whose  speculative 
opinions  respecting  God  are  correct.     They  admit 
the  truth  of  the  Bible  in  the  representations  which 
it  makes  of  the  Divine  character;  they  admit  the 
claims  of  God  in  the  gospel;  the  necessity  of  com- 
plying witli  its   terms  of  salvation  ;  they  assent  to 
the  whole  theory  of  revealed  religion,  and  yet  their 
practice  is  as  perverse  as  though  they  entertained 
no  such  views,  and  made  no  such  admission.     They 
disregard  the  Divine  law — reject  the  oflers  of  mercy 
— continue  impenitent  and  unbelieving — live  in  sin, 
and  put  far  oft' the  evil  day.      This  class  of  ])ervcrse 
practice,  includes  all  those  who  pay  an  external  at- 
tention to  religion,  contribute  to  its  support,  and 


S8  SERMON  IV. 

cbiiform  to  its  outward  observances,  but  yield  not 
their  hearts  to  its  inward  and  controlling  spirit — a 
strangely  perverse  practice,  more  criminal,  in  some 
respects,  than  any  of  the  other  classes  noticed.  Such 
is  the  kind  of  world  in  which  Christians  live.  A 
world  pervaded  with  distorted  views  of  God,  and 
the  very  foundations  of  its  moral  practice  out  of 
course;  a  world  greatly  erroneous  in  opinion,  and 
intensely  sinful  in  practice.  Is  there  no  hope  of 
some  kindly  influence  that  can  be  brought  to  bear 
on  it,  to  correct  its  errors  and  reform  its  practice? 
Yes ;  and  this  leads  me, 

II.  To  notice,  in  the  second  place,  the  kind  of 
influence  which  Christians  are  to  exert  upon  it. 
"Amongst  whom  ye  shine  as  lights  in  the  world." 
There  is  an  allusion  here,  to  the  heavenly  bodies 
that  supply  our  globe  with  light;  Christians,  in  a 
moral  or  spiritual  sense,  are  to  be  to  the  rest  of 
mankind,  what  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  are,  in  a 
natural  sense,  to  our  world — the  great  and  ruling 
lights  of  the  system. 

1.  I  remark  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  as  the 
light  of  the  heavenly  bodies  is  clear  and  undubious, 
so  the  influence  of  Christians  on  the  world  ought  to 
be  a  decided  and  unequivocal  Christian  influence. 
No  one  can  be  in  doubt  whether  the  sun  is  shining 
during  the  hours  of  the  day.  His  beams  carry  with 
them  an  irresistible  evidence.  No  one  can  make  it 
a  serious  question,  whether  or  not  the  moon  is  tra- 
velling in  her  serene  splendour  through  the  nightly 
sky.  Her  own  soft  radiance  cannot  be  mistaken. 
Nor  can  it,  for  a  moment,  be  doubtful  whether  or 
not  the  cloudless  vault  of  heaven  by  night,  is  stud- 


•SERMON  IV.  Sf) 

dec!  with  innumerable  stars,  blending  their  beams 
through  li^Lindless  space,  and  sending  their  far  off 
light  to  our  world.  The  light  of  all  these  celestial 
bodies  is  clear  and  undubious.  It  cannot  be  coun- 
terfeited or  mistaken.  Clouds  may  intervene  be- 
tween those  bodies  and  our  world,  and  obscure  the 
brightness  of  their  rays,  but  no  one  doubts  that  what 
light  we  still  enjoy,  is  derived  from  them,  and  that 
they,  in  themselves,  are  bright  and  serene  as  ever. 
Now,  the  requirement  of  our  text  is,  that  Christians 
should  shine  as  these  lights  in  the  world.  The  in- 
fluence which  they  are  to  exert  upon  it,  is  to  be  a 
decided,  unequivocal  Christian  injluence.  Their 
opinions  respecting  the  attributes  of  God — the  na- 
ture of  his  government — the  character,  condition, 
and  prospects  of  man  under  that  government — their 
views  of  the  great  doctrines  of  religion — their  know- 
ledge of  all  the  truths  of  revelation  must  be  compre- 
hensive, clear,  correct,  and  scriptural — decidedly 
the  opinions,  views,  and  knowledge  of  Christians, 
who  are  taught  of  God,  who  receive  the  things  of 
the  Spirit,  and  discern  spiritual  things.  It  must  not 
be  doubtful  wdiether  or  not  they  are  walking  in  the 
truth,  any  more  than  it  is  doubtful  whether  or  not 
the  sun  is  shining  at  noon.  Their  enlarged,  en- 
lightened, consistent,  scriptural  views  of  God's  truth, 
are  the  only  remedial  influence  that  can  be  brought 
to  bear  on  the  crooked  and  overgrown  errors  of 
the  world.  They  are,  in  this  respect,  the  light  of 
the  world,  and  they  are  to  shine  just  as  the  hea- 
venly bodies  do.  Ignorance,  doubt,  and  uncertainty, 
must  not  cloud  their  minds.  The  liglit  which  they 
send  forth  must  not  be  like  Ihnt  which  forms  the 
8* 


90  SERMON  IV. 

lunar  bow  on  the  mists  of  night.  Sent  forth  from  a 
mind  "rooted  and  grounded'^  in  the  .faith,  and 
growing  in  knowledge,  it  must  be  clear,  unequivo- 
cal, resplendent  as  the  sun's  meridian  ray.  It  must 
contrast  vividly  with  the  darkness  of  the  world, 
and  be  easily  distinguishable  from  all  those  false 
lights  that  result  from  sparks  of  the  sinner's  own 
kindling.  The  practice,  equally  with  the  opinions 
of  Christians,  ought  to  be  a  decided,  unequivocal 
Christian  practice.  No  actions  of  the  Christian's 
life  should  appear  doubtful.  There  is  nothing 
doubtful  in  the  course  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  as 
they  shine  upon  the  world.  They  obey  strictly 
those  physical  laws  by  which  their  revolutions  are 
to  be  governed.  There  are  no  uncertain,  equivocal 
movements  of  those  celestial  orbs.  Their  paths 
through  the  immeiisity  of  space,  can  be  calculated 
with  minutest  accurac3^  These  orbs  our  text  pre- 
sents as  the  models  of  the  Christian's  practice.  His 
whole  conduct  is  to  be  decidedly  Christian.  An 
open,  straight-forward,  well-defined  course,  must  be 
his,  like  the  pathway  which  the  sun  marks  in  the 
heavens.  Not  only  in  the  direct  services  of  religion, 
in  social  and  public  worship,  must  his  practice  be  a 
scriptural,  spiritual  practice,  known  and  felt  to  be 
such,  but  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  and  in  all  its  or- 
dinary pursuits,  the  same  clear,  decided,  unequivo- 
cal practice,  must  appear.  As  a  father,  a  husband, 
a  friend,  and  a  member  of  society,  his  whole  con- 
duct must  be  that  of  a  decided  Christian  father,  a 
decided  Christian  husband,  a  decided  Christian 
friend  and  member  of  society.  Whether  he  eats  or 
drinks,  or  whatever  he  does,  it  must  be  as  apparent. 


SERMON   IV.  91 

as  the  sunbeams  at  noon,  that  he  is  doing  all  to  the 
glory  of  God.  There  must  be  no  ambiguity  about 
his  actions.  They  must  all  be  manifestly  right,  dic- 
tated by  Christian  motives,  done  in  the  spirit  of 
sincere  and  universal  obedience,  and  conformed  to 
the  requirements  of  God's  holy  law.  In  respect  to 
the  main  actions  of  his  life,  there  must  be  no  more 
doubt  as  to  their  decided  Christian  character,  than 
we  doubt  whether  the  sun  is  risen,  and  is  pouring 
his  full-orbed  splendours  on  our  world.  Such,  in 
part,  is  the  kind  of  influence  which  Christians  are 
to  exert  on  the  world,  a  decided,  unequivocal 
Christian  influence,  as  contradistinguished  from 
all  counterfeit  and  doubtful  influences  which  are 
brought  to  bear  on  man.  And  this  is  the  only 
redeeming  influence,  under  God,  that  can  ever  reach 
and  rectify  the  perverse  practice  of  the  world. — 
When  Christians  thus  hold  forth  the  word  of  life  in 
clear,  decided,  intelligible,  straight-forward,  Chris- 
tian actions,  there  is  some  hope  that  the  world's 
obliquity  of  practice  will  be  remedied,  and  that 
seeing  their  good  works,  it  will  be  led  to  glorify 
their  Father  in  heaven.     But 

2.  As  the  heavenly  bodies  give  also  a  steady, 
permanent  light,  so  the  influence  which  Christians 
are  to  exert  on  the  world,  must  be  a  steady^  per- 
manent influence.  The  sun  does  not  shine  re- 
splendently  one  hour,  and  then  veil  himself  in  im- 
penetrable darkness  the  next.  Nor  does  the  moon 
shed  her  silvery  light  on  land  and  sea,  and  again  ca- 
priciously withdraw  it,  leaving  night  suddenly  to 
resume  its  dark  domain.  Nor  do  tlie  stars  glitter 
on  the  dome  of  heaven  for  a  moment,  onlv  to  retire 


92  SERMON  IV. 

and  render  the  gloom  that  would  succeed  more  pro- 
found and  appalling.  All  these  celestial  bodies  shine 
on  in  their  destined  spheres  and  seasons,  with  steady, 
permanent,  unabated  light.  Clouds  may  be  rolled 
between  the  eye  of  the  spectator  and  these  re- 
splendent orbs,  but  high  above  the  mist  and  storm, 
they  shine  on  with  unquenched  ray,  serenely  calm. 
It  is  thus  the  Christian  is'  to  shine,  as  these  lights  in 
the  world.  His  influence  is  to  be  steady  and/^er- 
Tnanent  as  the  beams  of  suns  and  stars.  In  accord- 
ance with  this,  God  himself  declares,  that  "the  path 
of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.'^  The  influence, 
then,  which  Christians  are  to  exert  on  the  world, 
must  not  be  a  fickle,  fitful  influence.  It  will  not  do 
to  burst  and  blaze  on  the  world  for  a  moment,  like 
a  meteor,  and  then  become  extinguished,  rendering 
darkness  visible.  However  brilliant  may  be  the 
meteor,  it  serves  not  to  light  man  in  the  business  of 
the  day,  nor  to  guide  the  mariner  on  the  pathless 
waters  by  night.  The  steady,  permanent  rays  of 
sun  and  stars,  alone  do  this.  And  that  periodical 
religious  influence  which  some  professors  exert, 
those  coruscations  of  occasional  zeal,  that  are  at- 
tended with  the  noise  and  the  sparks  of  a  sky-rocket, 
and  burst  and  vanish  about  as  soon,  have  never  pro- 
duced any  salutary  efiect  on  the  spiritual  interests 
of  the  world,  more  than  meteors  or  sky-rockets 
furnish  the  permanent  light  and  heat  that  promote 
vegetation  in  the  kingdom  of  nature.  All  the  great 
results  in  the  physical  world,  are  eflfected  by  steady, 
permanent  influences.  The  sun  shines  steadil}', 
day  by  day,  for  months,  to  mature  the  fruits  of  the 


SERMON  IV.  93 

earth;  the  dews  fall  nightly  through  the  same  period, 
and  the  rain  cometh  oft  npon  it.  The  genial  warmth 
pervades  it,  lingering  day  and  night  through  the 
appointed  season.  These  are  the  influences  on 
which  the  world  depends  for  physical  blessings,  si- 
lent, steady,  permanent  influences.  The  work  of 
uprooting,  desolation,  and  destruction,  can  be  ef- 
fected by  fitful  and  momentary  agencies.  The  tor- 
nado, the  earthquake,  and  the  volcano,  hurry  their 
havoc  and  ruin  within  the  limits  of  a  short  period, 
and  require  but  a  momentary  paroxysm  of  power  to 
efiect  their  disastrous  results.  Not  so  with  those 
physical  influences  that  bless  the  world.  They  are 
steady,  permanent,  all-pervading  influences.  And 
so  must  be  the  moral  influence  which  Christians 
exert  upon  the  world.  The  eflfects  to  be  produced 
by  their  influence  are  not  periodical.  The  instru- 
mentality that  is  to  enlighten,  convict,  convert,  re- 
claim, and  sanctify  a  world  now  lying  in  wicked- 
ness, must  be  a  steady,  permanent  instrumentality. 
Christians  will  have  to  exemplify  what  is  meant  by 
"ALWAYS  aboiindijig  in  the  work  of  the  Lord." — 
The  ignorance,  errors,  prejudices,  opposition,  and 
enmity  of  the  world  to  Christ  and  his  gospel,  are 
not  to  be  overcome  by  a  fitful  and  transient  influ- 
ence. The  world  is  to  be  divested  of  these  very 
much  as  the  individual  in  the  fable  is  represented  as 
being  compelled  to  lay  aside  his  cloak.  The  mo- 
mentary, though  furious  blast  of  wind,  first  attempt- 
ed, in  an  instant  of  its  power,  to  deprive  him  of  the 
mantle,  but  he  only  folded  it  around  him  more 
tightly,  till  the  blast  had  spent  its  short-lived  force. 
Yet  when  the  sun  poured  upon  him  its  steady,  pe- 


94  SERMON  IV. 

netr3Lt]ng,per?7ianent  beams,  overcome  by  tbeir  co7i- 
tinuous  effect,  he  was  obliged  to  throw  aside  the 
heavy  garment.  And  it  is  continuous,  unabated, 
persevering  Christian  influence,  that  will  yet  strip 
the  world  of  its  habiliments  of  rebellion  against 
God.  "The  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness"  can 
no  more,  than  those  of  the  earth,  be  cultivated  and 
matured  by  irregular  and  periodical  influences. — 
What  aspect  would  our  fields,  and  orchards,  and 
vineyards  present,  if  the  sun  should  shine  but  a 
little  while,  and  withdraw  his  light  and  genial 
warmth  for  a  long  interval,  and  if  the  dews  should 
fall  for  a  night  or  two,  and  then  suspend  their  visits 
for  weeks,  and  if  the  rain  should  follow  the  same 
rule,  and  the  bland  influences  of  spring  and  summer 
be  succeeded  by  long  intervals  of  the  temperature 
of  autumn  and  winter?  could  we  have  a  golden  har- 
vest, and  the  closing  summer  crowned  with  fruits? 
And  yet  all  these  intermissions  and  irregularities 
which  we  have  supposed  in  the  physical  elements, 
but  too  fitly  represent  the  kind  of  influence  which 
some  professing  Christians  exert  on  the  world.  Such 
an  influence  will  never  cultivate  and  mature  those 
fruits  of  righteousness  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ, 
unto  the  glory  and  praise  of  God's  rich  grace.  It 
must  be  an  influence  steady,  regular,  and  permanent 
as  the  course  and  light  of  those  celestial  orbs  that 
have  shone  unceasingly  since  the  morning  of  the 
creation ! 

III.  As  the  lights  of  the  world,  the  heavenly 
bodies,  not  only  shine  with  a  clear,  undubious, 
steady,  2jermanent  light,  but  with  a  genial  and 
vital  ivarmth,  so  the  influence  which  Christians 


SERMON  IV.  95 

arc  to  exert  must  carry  with  it  2i  fervent,  life-giving 
spirit.  Tiic  influence  of  the  sun  on  vegetable  life 
does  not  consist  merely  in  its  liglU.  That  liglit  is 
thrown  as  profusely  and  brightly  over  the  desola- 
tions of  winter  as  over  the  teeming  verdure  and 
flowers  of  spring,  or  the  rich  fruits  of  summer  and 
autumn.  All  the  luminaries  of  the  heavens,  as  far 
as  mere  light  is  concerned,  might  shine  on,  clear, 
steady,  permanent,  and  bright  as  ever,  and  yet,  in 
the  absence  of  that  peculiar,  mysterious,  vital  warmth 
which  accompanies  their  rays  at  certain  seasons,  the 
earth  would  be  one  vast  scene  of  wintry  desolation. 
So  the  Christian's  opinions  may  be  clear,  correct, 
enlightened,  enlarged  and  scriptural,  and  his  prac- 
tice be  outwardly  blameless,  negatively  correct,  so 
that  no  flaw  or  fault  may  attach  to  him,  and  yet  his 
influence  on  the  world  fail  to  be  what  our  text  de- 
mands. It  lacks  the  vital,  glowing  warmth  of  the 
Ueue  Christian  spirit!  His  influence  must  com- 
bine the  two  elements  of  light  and  heat  in  their  due 
proportions.  The  world  will  never  teem  with  moral 
verdure  and  wave  with  a  rich  spiritual  harvest  under 
the  influence  of  a  clear,  accurate,  orthodox  faith,  and 
a  coldly,  negatively  correct  practice  by  Christians. 
Such  a  world  as  we  have  described  will  not  burst 
the  bands  of  its  desolate  moral  winter,  and  break 
forth  into  the  spring  and  summer  of  its  spiritual 
renovation,  under  this  kind  of  influence.  The  great 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  world's  conversion  does 
not  consist  merely  in  a  darkened  understanding;  and 
the  clearest  light,  therefore,  cannot  remove  this  chf- 
ficulty.  The  cold  hearts  of  the  world  must  be 
melted  down  into  tender,  penitential  submission  to 


96  SERMON  IV. 

the  Saviour.  This  is  a  result  that  light,  of  itself, 
can  rjever  produce.  To  effect  this  we  must  have 
that  peculiar,  mysterious,  vital  warmth  that  accom- 
panies a  pure,  elevated,  glowing  piety.  No  false 
fire  can  supply  its  place.  It  is  the  warmth  diffused 
through  the  Christian's  soul  by  daily,  holy  commu- 
nion with  God  beneath  the  intense  beams  of  his  pro- 
pitious face — the  sacred  fire  that  is  kindled  and  kept 
burning  by  the  habit  of  constant,  importunate,  se- 
cret prayer — the  holy  flame  of  supreme  love  to  God, 
and  the  constraining  love  of  Christ  for  souls  fed  and 
fanned  by  the  communications  of  God's  Spirit  made 
through  a  diligent  attendance  on  divine  ordinances 
and  the  punctual  performance  of  all  known  duties — 
this  is  the  genial j  vivifying  heat  that  forms  the 
great  element  of  the  Christian's  influence  on  the 
world.  Without  it  the  other  elements  lack  the  very 
one  which  imparts  to  them  all  their  redeeming  effi- 
cacy. Let  this  spiritual  warmth  be  diffused  steadily, 
permanently,  and  pervadingly,  like  that  connected 
with  the  beams  of  the  sun,  and  the  icy  bands  of 
earth  will  be  dissolved,  her  long,  dreary  winter  be 
past,  and  a  spring  lovely  as  that  of  Eden  will  visit 
her,  and  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  places  shall 
be  glad,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as 
the  rose! 

Are  not  Christians  solemnly  bound  to  exert  such 
an  influence  as  this  upon  the  world?  This  intro- 
duces the  third  and  last  general  topic  of  discussion 
proposed  in  this  discourse,  namely,  the  obligations 
of  Christians  to  shine  as  lights  in  the  world.  On 
this  subject  I  must  be  brief.  Did  time  permit,  I 
might  show  that  Christians  are  under  obligations  to 


SERMON  IV.  97 

exert  such  an  influence  on  the  world,  simply  from 
<he  fact  that  it  is  the  obvious  will  of  God,  and 
his  direct  command,  that  they  should  do  so. 
God's  will  clearly  revealed,  God's  command  expli- 
citly given,  creates  the  strongest  ohligations  that  can 
bind  a  rational  creature.  And  this  ought  to  be  suf- 
ficient for  Christians,  who  profess  submission  and 
implicit  obedience  to  Jehovali's  authority.  I  might 
also  argue  the  obligations  of  Christians  to  exert  this 
influence  on  the  world  from  their  sense  of  grati- 
tude. "  Redeemed  not  with  corruptible  things,  as 
silver  and  gold,"  but  with  the  amazing  price  of  Je- 
sus' blood — pardoned  and  accepted  of  God — filled 
with  the  joys  of  his  salvation,  adopted  into  his 
family,  and  made  the  heirs  and  expectants  of  an 
eternal  heaven:  if  there  be  any  thing  that  Chris- 
tians can  do  in  return  for  favours  so  infinite,  so  di- 
vine, gratitude  would  bind  them  to  do  it.  TiTey 
can  glorify  God  in  their  bodies  and  spirits,  which 
are  his,  by  exerting  this  influence  on  the  world. 

I  might  also  argue  the  obligations  of  Christians 
to  do  this  from  the  appeal  ivhich  the  gigantic  mise- 
ries of  an  imjjenitent  ivorld  make  to  their  sympa- 
thies. The  ignorance,  error,  darkness,  and  moral 
death  which  pervade  the  world,  form  an  awful  ag- 
gregation of  ills!  And  when  you  add  the  prospects 
of  the  world  for  eternity — the  multitudes  who,  in 
the  absence  of  Christian  influence,  must  speedily  be 
engulfed  in  the  everlasting  woes  of  perdition — and 
when  you  think  that  the  only  hope  of  remedy  or 
removal  of  all  these  temporal  and  eternal  woes  de- 
pends, under  God,  on  the  instrumentality  of  Chris- 
tians, the  appeal  to  their  sympathies  is  such  as  to 
9 


98  SERMON  IV. 

make  them  feel  their  obligations  to  be  imperative 
and  overwhelming.  But  I  cannot  dwell  on  these 
particulars,  and  therefore  hasten  to  notice  two  con- 
siderations which  show  the  obligations  of  Christians 
to  exert  such  an  influence  as  I  have  described  on  the 
world. 

1.  All  other  influences  that  have  been  depended 
upon  to  reclaim  and  bless  the  world  have  failed. 
Those  have  not  been  wanting  in  any  age  who  have 
attempted  to  restore  the  w^orld  to  virtue  and  happi- 
ness.    Philosophy  early  tried  its  influence;  but  its 
profound  theories  were  not  suited  to  the  common 
mind,  and  were  never  understood  by  the  great  ma- 
jority of  mankind.     Its  morality  lacked  divine  and 
eternal  sanctions,  and  therefore  never  extended  its 
control  over  the  indomitable  depravity  of  the  mul- 
titude.   The  arts  have  exerted  their  power  to  bless 
the  world;  and  all  that  they  have  been  able  to  do 
is  to  promote  physical  comfort,  and  furnish  the  fa- 
cilities for  the  accomplishment  of  the  temporary 
ends  of  man's  present  existence.     All  the  arts  of 
the  world  have  never  materially  benefited  its  moral 
condition,  though  they  have  sometimes  become  sub- 
servient to  a  more  intense  play  of  its  depravity. 
Civilization  and  refinement  have  tried  their  me- 
liorating blandishments;  but  these  scarcely  "make 
the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter  clean."     Rome, 
when  her  refinement  and  civilization  were  the  won- 
der of  the  world,  was  pervaded  with  atrocious  vices 
that  brought  upon  her  a  hopeless  national  overthrow. 
Education  has  been  relied  on  as  the  great  means  of 
the  world's  restoration  to  happiness;  and  yet  what 
has  it  alone  ever  done  for  the  moral  welfare  of  the 


SERMON  IV.  '9 

liiiman  race?  All  the  intellectual  lip;lit  which  it  has 
shed  upon  the  world  has  had  no  more  tendency  to 
conquer  its  enmity,  and  hring  it  back  to  its  alle- 
giance and  loyalty  to  God,  than  the  moonlight  on 
the  northern  snows  has  to  produce  vegetation! 
Rome's  palmiest  days  of  literature  and  science 
were  her  darkest  period  of  moral  corruption.  "The 
world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  Plans  of  civil 
government^  human  laws,  and  sy steins  of  cri7ni- 
nal  jurisjn'tidence  have  been  tried,  in  their  sway, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  world;  and,  separate  from  re- 
ligion and  moral  sentiment,  what  have  they  ever 
effected?  The  power  of  all  these  influences  com- 
bined, had  it  borne  steadily  on  the  world  for  six 
thousand  years,  would  never  have  broken  one  hard, 
impenitent  heart — never  brought  it  in  sweet  sub- 
mission to  God — never  filled  it  with  the  joys  of 
pardoned  sin;  would  never  have  recovered  to  life, 
hope,  happiness,  and  heaven,  one  immortal  spirit  of 
earth's  millions.  As  well  might  we  hope  to  draw 
out  Leviathan  from  the  deep  with  a  silken  thread, 
or  bind  the  whirlwind  with  gossamer,  as  to  control 
the  revolt  and  enmity  of  the  world  against  God  by 
influences  like  these.  No!  Christian  brethren,  "ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world,  ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth."  Ye  are  God's  witnesses;  and  if  your  light 
be  hid  under  a  bushel,  and  the  salt  have  lost  its 
savour,  darkness  and  moral  putrefaction  will  reign 
and  rage  uncontrolled  over  the  world.  Your  influ- 
ence, under  God,  is  the  last  resort  of  a  dying  world. 
All  other  influences  have  utterly  failed.  Yours  is 
the  world's  last  hope,  and  God's  appointed  instru- 
mentality for  its  redemption.     If  you  withhold  this, 


100  SERMON  IV. 

a  moral  darkness  more  appalling  than  the  fancied 
darkness  of  Byron's  dream  must  settle  on  the  world ! 
Blot  out  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  could  any  artifi- 
cial fires  lighted  on  this  globe  supply  their  place? 
Ye  are  to  shine  as  these  celestial  lights  in  the  world ; 
and  if  you  do  not,  the  moral  canopy  of  earth  will 
remain  hung  in  a  rayless  gloom,  the  fit  and  fearful 
emblem  and  prelude  of  that  "  blackness  of  dark- 
ness" to  which  its  myriads  of  souls  must  be  con- 
signed for  ever!  Would  that  I  could  write  it  on 
your  hearts  "  as  with  a  pen  of  iron  or  the  point  of 
a  diamond,"  that  yours  is  the  only  influence,  under 
God,  that  will  ever  redeem  and  bless  this  bleeding, 
dying  world.  Oh,  what  infinite  responsibility  rests 
upon  Christians!  How  tender,  sacred,  awful,  are 
their  obligations  to  exert  the  right  kind  of  influence 
on  this  apostate  globe!  It  is  heaven's  last  great  ex- 
pedient— earth's  only  hope  for  salvation! 

2.  The  only  other  consideration  which  I  shall  ad- 
duce to  show  the  obligations  of  Christians  to  exert 
such  an  influence  on  the  world  is,  that  this  is  one 
prijicipal  design  of  God  in  detaining  them  on 
earth  after  their  conversion.  When  we  contem- 
plate the  principles  of  a  regenerated  soul — its  dead- 
ness  to  the  world — its  hatred  of  sin — its  love  of  holi- 
ness— its  desire  for  communion  with  God — its  taste 
for  the  purity,  and  its  hopes  and  longings  for  the 
bliss  of  heaven,  and  then  look  at  the  whole  course 
of  this  present  evil  world,  we  can  see  that  this  is  not 
a  congenial  place  for  the  Christian.  All  the  ele- 
ments of  the  world  are  unfriendly  to  him.  Every 
thing  seems  to  be  armed  with  weapons  to  be  wielded 
against  the  new  spiritual  life  on  which  he  has  en- 


SERMON   IV.  101 

tereil.  Insidious  allurements,  adroit  temptations,  and 
complicated  snares  are  laid  thickly  on  every  step  of 
his  pathway.  Earth  and  hell  lie  in  ambuscade  there, 
and  assault  him  on  his  pilgrimage.  Now,  when  we 
think  of  the  everlasting  love  of  the  Father,  and  the 
dying  love  and  mediatorial  sympathy  of  the  Saviour 
for  his  people,  we  cannot  for  a  moment  suppose  tliat 
God  would  detain  them  here  on  earth  so  long,  if  his 
main  and  only  design  in  their  conversion  was  to  take 
them  to  heaven.  For  aught  we  know,  the  Holy  Spi- 
rit might  complete  the  sanctification  of  every  soul 
that  is  converted  as  speedily  as  it  did  that  of  the  thief 
on  the  cross.  V^^hy,  then,  should  a  benevolent  God, 
and  a  compassionate,  sympathizing  Saviour,  keep  the 
Christian  so  long  on  earth,  in  contact  with  the  tu- 
multuating  elements  of  its  depravity?  Why  not 
wing  his  spirit  at  once  for  its  upward  and  returnless 
flight  from  the  storm  and  turmoil  of  the  world? 
Must  not  God  have  the  wisest  and  best  reasons — 
must  he  not  have  some  grand  design  in  detaining 
his  own  beloved  people  in  circumstances  like  these 
so  long  away  from  the  deep  repose  and  unvexed  fe- 
licity of  heaven?  And  what  is  this  great  design  that 
influences  God  to  leave  his  own  dear  children  so 
long  amidst  the  conflicts  and  sorrows  of  this  mortal 
scene?  Let  the  blessed  Redeemer  answer: — "  I  have 
chosen  you  and  ordained  you  that  ye  should  go  and 
bring  forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain!''^ 
Yes,  this  fruit  is  of  more  importance  to  this  perish- 
ing world  than  the  immediate  and  perfected  bliss  of 
heaven  is  to  Christians.  God  detains  them  from  that 
bliss  that  they  may  bring  forth  this  fruit,  and  that  it 


102  SERMON  IV. 

may  remain.  It  is  the  only  provision  for  that  tre- 
mendous spiritual  famine  under  which  the  world  is 
pining  away,  and  is  threatened  with  eternal  death! 
Could  the  world  be  defended  from  the  ravages  and 
ruin  of  the  armies  of  its  spiritual  wants  ivithout  the 
influence  of  Christians,  then  would  all  the  good  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ  be  discharged  from  the  war,  re- 
turn to  their  homes  in  heaven,  unbind  the  helmet, 
wipe  the  sweat  from  their  brow,  and  hang  their 
shields  in  the  halls  of  glory !  But  such  is  not  the 
design  of  God  when  they  enlist  under  the  banner  of 
the  cross.  They  are  to  endure  hardness  in  the  toils 
of  the  camp  here.  God  has  marshalled  them,  by  his 
sovereign  grace,  as  the  select  life-guard  of  the 
world;  and  under  their  oath  to  the  great  Captain  of 
salvation,  they  are  to  defend  it  faithfully  from  all 
the  hosts  that  make  war  on  its  spiritual  interests. 
Can  they,  dare  they  ever  desert  their  post,  till  their 
work  and  their  warfare  shall  have  been  accomplished  ? 
Will  they  thwart  the  very  design  of  God  in  detain- 
ing them  here  after  their  conversion?  This  is  the 
main  purpose  of  God  in  your  stay  here  on  earth! 
Are  you  not  solemnly  bound  to  fulfil  it?  Are  you 
not  under  imperious,  infinite  obligations  to  fall  in 
with  the  great  end  that  God  has  had  in  view  b}^ 
keeping  you  in  this  world,  instead  of  taking  you  di- 
rectly to  heaven?  Oh,  acknowledge,  feel  these  ob- 
ligations. Never  dare  break  one  tie  by  which  the 
purpose  of  God  has  connected  your  influence  with 
the  redemption  of  this  apostate  globe.  Tax  all  your 
energies  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  glorious  design,  and 
bring  upon  this  lost,  bleeding,  sinking  world  that 
Christian  influence  by  which  God  yet  means  to  flood 


SERMON  IV.  103 

earth  with  light,  and  eternity  with  the  joys  of  re- 
deemed millions. 

JNIy  dear  hearers,  I  leave  it  with  your  consciences, 
as  I  do  with  my  own,  to  decide  how  far  the  influ- 
ence which  we  have  heen  exerting  on  the  world  has 
been  of  the  kind  described  in  this  discourse.  Where 
is  our  light? — in  the  candlestick  or  under  a  bushel? 
Into  what  parts  of  our  families,  our  circles  of  friends 
and  acquaintances,  has  the  genial,  vital  warmth  of 
our  piety  penetrated,  and  been  felt  as  a  means  of 
melting  stubborn  hearts  and  bringing  them  to  peni- 
tential submission?  Have  our  opinions  and  practice 
been  just  what  God  and  conscience  required,  and  a 
shrewd  world  judged  to  be  consistent?  Have  we 
shone  as  lights — as  the  heavenly  bodies,  with  beams 
clear,  steady,  bright,  permanent,  irradiating  our  whole 
sphere?  Has  our  Christian  influence  been  such  as  to 
meet  the  dire  spiritual  wants  of  the  world  around  us? 
Has  that  world  been  enlightened,  transformed,  vivi- 
ficd  by  it? — and  has  God  smiled  and  blest  us  with 
tiie  beams  of  his  countenance  on  our  own  souls,  for 
the  fidelity  and  success  with  which  we  have  per- 
formed the  duty  enjoined  in  the  text?  These  are 
solemn  questions  for  conscience  to  decide  in  Jeho- 
vali's  presence  to-day.  I  hope  they  will  not  be  un- 
heeded, nor  left  for  an  hour  unanswered  by  either 
speaker  or  hearers. 

On  the  kind  of  Christian  influence  now  described, 
more  than  on  any  other  human  instrumentality,  de- 
pends the  prevalence  of  revivals  of  religion,  and  the 
success  and  progress  of  the  gospel  in  the  world. 
When  Christians  universally  awake  and  arise  from 
the  dead,  and   receive  light  from   their  communion 


104  SERMON  IV. 

with  Christ,  and  reflect  it  warm  from  "  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  "  on  a  dyhig  world,  then  shall  "  the 
day-spring''  of  its  deliverance  from  error  and  crime 
visit  it,  and  the  "day-star"  that  heralds  the  glories 
of  its  millennial  morning  shine  with  cheering  rays 
on  the  eyes  of  expectant  nations. 


SKUMON  V.  105 


SERMON    V. 


"Fou  THE  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost." — Luke  xix.  10. 

The  term  "lost,"  when  only  employed  in  its 
literal  sense,  is  one  of  mournful  significancy.  The 
individual,  who  in  a  night  of  clouds,  and  rayless 
gloom,  has  missed  his  w^ay,  and  is  wandering,  lost 
from  his  cheerful  hearth  and  familiar  home,  excites 
in  his  hehalf  a  strong  and  peculiar  sympathy.  But 
the  scriptural  representation  of  the  sinner's  condition 
in  reference  to  God,  as  the  Father  of  his  spirit,  and 
heaven  as  his  home,  makes  a  more  resistless  appeal 
to  our  benevolent  commiseration.  Sin  has  reared 
dark  mountains  around,  and  spread  out  the  canopy  of 
a  moonless,  starless,  moral  night,  over  the  immortal 
spirit,  beneath  and  among  which  it  gropes  its  way, 
not  knowing  whither  it  goeth.  It  is  man's  impe- 
rishable part  that  is  lost,  the  interests  of  his  spiritual 
being  that  are  ruined;  his  soiilj  lost,  is  wandering 
away  from  its  happy  home  in  the  skies — exiled  from 
the  bosom  of  its  Father,  an  outcast  from  the  endear- 
ments and  the  joys  of  God's  great  family  on  earth, 
and  in  heaven.  We  may  remark,  however,  that  be- 
ing lost,  does  not  always  imply  that  the  person  is 
iyinocently  and  involuntarily  lost.  Usage  sanc- 
tions the  application  of  this  term  to  the  conduct  and 
condition  of  the  youth,  who  has  voluntarily  and 


106  SERMON  V. 

wickedly  overleaped  the  boundaries  of  parental  re- 
straint, and  broken  away  from  the  tenderness  of  pa- 
rental love,  and  plunged  deeply  into  the  dissipations 
of  ungodly  companionship.  We  say  he  is  lost  to 
his  family,  to  society,  to  every  noble  and  elevated 
feeling.  And  he  is  lost,  for  he  does  nothing  that 
indicates  that  he  belongs  to,  and  has  his  home  with 
that  lovely  family,  from  which  he  is  wandering  :  nor 
does  he  share  in  the  virtuous  joys  of  their  domestic 
circle;  nor  do  his  parents  treat  him,  nor  dare  they 
treat  him  as  a  son.  He  has  intervals  of  broken  re- 
flection himself,  when  the  promptings  of  the  remains 
of  his  earlier  and  better  feelings  remind  him  that  he 
is  lost.  He  knows  it,  and  sometimes  for  a  moment 
seems  inclined  to  relent  and  return,  but  goes  on  his 
way  wandering  still.  It  is  in  this  sense,  that  God 
regards  and  declares  an  impenitent  world  as  lost. 

That  sinners  are  thus  lost,  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
text,  and  may  be  proved  by  the  following  considera- 
tions: 

I.  The  pursuits  or  doings  of  siniiers  evince  that 
they  are  lost.  In  all  their  diversified  pursuits,  in 
the  play  of  their  ceaseless  activity,  there  is  no  refe- 
rence to  the  service  of  God.  "  The  wicked,  through 
the  pride  of  his  countenance,  will  not  seek  after 
God."  There  is  no  serious  attention  given  to  the 
claims  of  God,  no  serious  inquiry  after  God,  no  up- 
ward aim  in  any  of  the  sinner's  actions  tending  to 
heaven,  no  real  aspirations  after  a  knowledge  of  God, 
no  ardent  hopes  of  a  return  to  the  home  of  the  soul, 
no  voluntary  effort  to  cease  from  wandering.  That 
he  sho.  Id  quit  his  rebellion,  submit  to  God,  repent 
and  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  consecrate 


SER.MON   V.  107 

himself  without  reserve,  to  walk  in  all  the  ordi- 
nances and  commandments  of  God  blameless,  never 
really  enters  his  mind.  Amidst  all  the  multitude  of 
his  thoughts  within  him,  and  all  the  outward  plans 
and  pursuits  of  his  life,  there  is  no  great  governing 
purpose,  to  regard  God  as  his  righteous  sovereign. 
He  follows  his  own  depraved  inclinations,  and  has 
no  higher  aim  than  to  gratify  his  own  supreme  self- 
ishness. The  law  of  God,  the  will  of  God,  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  good  of  his  fellow  men,  never  claim 
his  serious  notice,  as  the  great  motives  which  shoukl 
control  his  conduct.  Were  you  to  judge  merely 
from  an  analysis  of  his  actions,  you  would  scarcely 
suspect  that  he  had  a  soul,  or  if  he  had,  that  it  held 
any  serious  relations  to  God,  or  to  the  high  and  aw- 
ful destinies  of  immortality.  His  desires,  plans,  pur- 
poses, pursuits,  hopes,  wishes,  and  unwearied  efforts, 
are  all  circumscribed  by  earth,  and  confined  within 
the  uncertain  period  of  the  present  life.  If,  then,  earth 
be  the  true  home  and  portion  of  the  undying  soul, 
man  is  not  lost,  the  sinner  is  at  home.  But  if  there 
be  any  higher  sphere  of  existence,  any  God  but  the 
God  of  this  world,  any  blest  realm  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  this  little  globe,  attainable  and  to  be  sought 
as  man's  final  rest,  and  ulterior  destination,  then  all 
the  pursuits  of  the  sinner,  the  entire  direction  and 
application  of  his  activities  prove  that  he  is  lost,  lost 
to  God,  to  holiness,  to  hope  and  to  heaven!  . 

H.  The  sinner's  own  7'estlcssness  and  present 
dissatisfaction  premonish  him,  that  he  is  lost.  In 
the  earlier  periods  of  life,  when  the  heart  unblighted 
by  disappointment,  is  full  of  sanguine  hope,  and  all 
the  great  objects  of  human  aspiration  lie  yet  before 


lOS  SERMON  V. 

him,  in  the  exaggerated  attractions  of  eager  and  con- 
fident anticipation,  the   sinner  feels    comparatively- 
satisfied  with  himself,  and  with  his  present  circum- 
stances.    He  has  so  many  castles  built  in  air,  that 
they  seem  to  him  as  a  "city  of  habitation."    The  mo- 
mentary restlessness    and    dissatisfaction   which   he 
may  occasionally  experience,  are  at  once  quieted  by 
the  onward  boundings  of  young  elastic  hope,  and  the 
grasp  of  eager  expectation  on  the  future.     But  as 
one,  and  another,  and  yet  another  of  the  great  plans 
of  life   are   accomplished,  as  object  after  object  of 
hope  and  anticipation  are  realized,  or  bitter  disap- 
pointment proclaims  them  beyond  his  reach  for  ever, 
when  the  tide  of  life  is  turned,  and  he  has  to  dwell  in 
memory  on  what  he  has  done,  and  been,  rather  than 
in  hope  of  what  he  yet  expects  to  be,  and  to  do,  the 
case  is  quite  diflferent.     Then  he  has  intervals  of  in- 
tolerable restlessness,  when  he  is  goaded  with  a  vague 
craving   after   some   unknown    good.     He   realizes 
then,  that  the  world  has  held  out  a  promise  to  the 
ear,  that  it  has  broken  to  the  heart,  that  it  has  utterly 
failed  to  redeem  the  great  pledge  which  it  gave  to 
his  ardent  youthful  hopes.     His  expectations  have 
cruelly  mocked  him.     The  rest,  the  finished  satis- 
faction, which  he  once  confidently  believed  awaited 
him,  when  he  should  have  compassed  certain  ends, 
he  has  not  attained.     He  even  begins  to  indulge  the 
unwelcome  suspicion  that  there  is  an  intrinsic  emp- 
tiness   in   the    mere  things  of  earth,  rendering  it 
impossible  that  they  should  ever  fully  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  his  nature!     He  growls  dissatisfied  with 
himself,  with  his  attainments,  with  his  present  cir- 
cumstances.    Could  he  accomplish  all  that  his  heart 


SERMON  V.  109 

has  ever  desired  or  purposed,  yet  tlie  thoughts  of  the 
brevity,  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  the  absohite  cer- 
tainty of  death,  sooner  or  later  as  the  destroyer  of 
his  great  possessions  and  enjoyments,  could  not  be 
barred  from  his  mind,  by  the  gates  and  walls  of  a 
palace,  nor  bribed  away  by  the  wealth  of  the  world. 
After  all  the  accumulations  of  a  most  successful 
career,  he  begins  to  feel  that  h'l^soul  has  really  no 
substantial,  satisfactory,  enduring  portion.  Its  de- 
sires are  not  filled,  the  aspirations  of  its  active  death- 
less powers  after  a  position  of  secure  repose,  and  high 
enjoyment,  are  not  met  and  gratified.  It  has  a  vague, 
yet  tantalizing  conviction,  that  notwithstanding  all 
it  has  done,  and  all  it  has  attained,  it  is  still  in  exile, 
without  a  home  and  a  rest  suited  to  its  immortal  na- 
ture. And  though  this  conviction  may  be  banished, 
and  this  restlessness  occasionally  broken  up  by  plung- 
ing more  deeply  into  the  business  or  guilty  pleasures 
of  the  world,  yet  they  recur,  as  returning  birds  of  ill 
omen,  more  and  more  frequently,  as  his  experience 
of  tlie  unsatisfying  nature  of  temporal  good  becomes 
more  ripened  and  confirmed.  Now,  dear  hearers, 
would  this  be  the  case,  were  the  sinner  in  all  re- 
spects, in  the  condition  in  which  God  creates  and 
places  the  rational  subjects  of  his  government?  Has 
he  not  wandered  from  the  true  position  of  an  accoun- 
table immortal  creature?  Is  he  not  out  of  the  way  ? 
As  he  advances  on  his  path,  you  observe,  that  instead 
of  feeling  the  proximity  and  attractions  of  home  with 
all  its  nameless  endearments,  he  becomes  more  and 
more  restless  and  dissatisfied,  hunted  and  harassed 
with  a  sense  of  exile,  ever  increasing  as  time  rolls 
on.  Is  not  this  the  mark  of  being  lost  ?  Would  the 
10 


110  SERMON  V. 

sinner  feel  thus,  had  he  <^  returned  to  the  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  souls,"  and  were  he  led  by  him  "  into 
the  green  pastures,  and  by  the  quiet  waters  "  of  sal- 
vation? No,  my  impenitent  hearer,  that  very  rest- 
lessness and  dissatisfaction,  which  no  effort  of  yours 
can  prevent,  are  God's  messengers  stationed  in  the 
constitution  of  your  nature  to  premonish  you  that 
you  are  lost  I 

III.  God''s  dealings  with  them,  in  the  present 
world,  prove  that  unrenewed  sinners  are  lost.  On 
this  point,  the  divine  administration  over  men  for 
ages  past,  has  been  full  of  instruction.  God's  acts 
are  unequivocal  evidence,  how  he  regards  those  who 
are  the  subjects  of  them.  As  a  matter  of  indispu- 
table fact,  then,  how  has  God  treated  sinners  in  the 
present  world?  Has  he  shaped  the  course  of  his 
dealings  with  them,  as  a  class  of  his  rational  creatures, 
who  are  safe  at  home,  unexiled,  unalienated  from, 
their  God?  In  the  acts  of  God  towards  them,  have 
sinners  been  practically  and  by  implication  regarded 
as  living  loyally  in  his  presence,  resting  by  faith  and 
love  in  the  bosom  of  his  infinite  benevolence,  dwell- 
ing at  ease  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty,  in 
no  danger  of  mistaking  the  way  to  true  happiness 
here,  and  to  the  heaven  of  the  holy  hereafter?  No, 
my  dear  hearers,  the  history  of  God's  administration 
over  the  world  teaches  a  far  different  lesson.  In  the 
long  train  of  judgments  that  have  scourged,  and  at 
times,  well  nigh  extinguished,  our  sinning  race,  we 
behold  a  great  system  of  means  appealing  powerfully 
to  the  fears  of  man,  to  induce  him  to  turn  from  his 
evil  ways,  cease  his  wanderings,  and  seek  safety  in 
the  favour  of  God.     These  judgments  contain  Iqs- 


SERMON   V.  Ill 

sons  of  impressive  warning  to  wanderers^  to  "those 
that  are  out  of  the  way,^^  that  have  strayed  from 
the  path  of  his  commandments.  The  acts  of  God's 
retributive  providence,  stand  out  along  the  course  of 
time,  as  beacons  to  tell  of  those  eternal  billows  of 
wrath,  that  await  the  lost  in  their  final  shipwreck  in 
eternity.  So  the  frowns  and  chastisements  visited 
on  individuals,  speak  of  God's  controversy  with  them 
for  what?  for  being  in  the  path  of  safety  now,  and 
urging  their  way  onward  to  consummated  redemp- 
tion in  heaven?  God  forbid;  but  for  being  out  of 
the  path  of  life,  and  for  wilfully  wandering  in  the 
broad  road  to  perdition,  to  the  consummated  woes  of 
the  lost  in  hell !  These  visitations  are  God's  stern 
messengers  to  them,  warning  them  to  turn  from  the 
error  of  their  way,  and  be  saved.  And  what  is  im- 
plied in  every  revelation  which  God  has  made  to 
man  since  that  intimation  to  the  first  pair  in  Eden 
after  the  fall,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise 
the  serpent's  head?  What  necessity  #ould  call  for 
repeated  interpositions  of  God,  to  reveal  his  counsel 
and  will  to  a  class  of  rational  beings,  who  were  safe 
in  the  paths  of  rectitude,  walking  in  the  very  light  of 
his  countenance,  and  led  and  controlled  by  supreme 
love  to  him  ?  In  every  supernatural  communication 
from  heaven  to  earth,  we  have  evidence  that  God 
regards  men  as  in  need  of  light,  but  in  need  of  it  for 
what?  manifestly  to  enable  them  to  find  a  way  in 
which,  by  nature,  they  are  not  walking.  Amongst 
the  blessings  which  God  only  can  bestow,  the  Psalm- 
ist enumerates  the  following:  "  Thou  ivilt  show 
me  the  path  of  life.'*  The  entire  revelation  of  God 
to  man  every  where  assumes  that  he  is  lost,  that  he 


112  SERMON  V. 

needs  light  and  controlling  influences  from  above  to 
bring  him  back  into  the  way  that  leads  to  heaven, 
the  home  of  the  soul. 

IV.  The  direct  declarations  of  Scripture  and 
the  provisions  of  the  gospel,  prove  that  impenitent 
men  are  lost.  The  oracles  of  God  utter  a  language 
and  bear  a  testimony  on  this  point,  whose  pertinence 
and  weight  it  would  seem  impossible  to  overlook. 
*'A11  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray.''  "I  have 
gone  astray  like  a  lost  sheep."  "But  go  rather  to 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  I  am  not  sent 
but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  "  Ye 
that  were  sometime  afar  off,  hath  he  brought  nigh." 
"Lo,  they  that  are  far  from  thee  shall  perish."  "  But 
if  our  gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  /o5/." 
And  what  gives  so  inimitable  a  pathos  to  the  para- 
bles of  the  lost  sheep,  the  ten  pieces  of  silver,  and 
the  divine  tragedy  of  the  Prodigal  Son?  The  great 
master-thou^it  designed  to  be  excited  by  these  rep- 
resentations is  obviously  the  lost  condition  of  the 
sinner,  requiring  the  interposition  of  infinite  mercy 
to  recover  and  save  him.  What  gives  significancy 
to  the  character  and  offices  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  Sa- 
viour? Why  "the  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost.'^  He  became  incarnate, 
took  part  with  his  brethren  in  flesh  and  blood,  that 
"he  might  have  compassion  on  the  ignorant,  and 
them  that  are  out  of  the  wayP  Hence  he  is  rep- 
resented as  a  Shepherd  whose  peculiar  function  it  is 
to  seek  those  that  are  lost,  and  to  guard  the  flock 
from  straying,  and  lead  them  to  a  proper  destination. 
He  is  represented  as  a  prophet,  the  great  prophet 
like  unto  Moses,  who  was  to  be  raised  up  to  teach 


SERMON   V.  113 

the  truth  of  God  fully  and  without  a  figure,  and  to 
make  known  the  way  of  eternal  life,  without  sha- 
dows or  symbols.  Yea,  he  is  himself  emphatically 
styled  "//ie  tvay.^^  Now  why  his  union  with  our 
nature,  and  why  these  peculiar  offices,  were  it  not  a 
fact  that  sinners  are  lost?  This  fact  receives  a  most 
impressive  testimony  to  its  truth  from  the  aitgust 
sacrijice  of  the  Son  of  God.  What  means  that  deep 
humiliation,  that  emptying  himself  of  the  uncreated 
glories  of  his  divinity  which  marked  the  Saviour's 
assumption  of  our  nature,  and  his  entrance  into  our 
world  ?  What  means  the  poverty  of  his  birth  and 
life,  denied  as  he  was  from  his  first  breath^'a  place 
whereon  to  lay  his  head?  What  mean  the  unrelent- 
ing and  rancorous  persecutions  of  kings  and  rulers, 
priests,  scribes  and  elders,  and  the  contradiction  of 
sinners  against  himself,  which  he  endured  through 
life.'*  Why  was  he  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquaint- 
ed with  griefs,  his  countenance  more  marred  than 
any  man's?  What  means  the  aggravated  and  hei- 
nous treachery  of  Judas  that  betrayed  him  into  the 
hands  of  sinners?  What  mean  the  sorrows  of  Geth- 
semane,  the  prayers  and  tears,  the  gloom  and  groans, 
the  great  sweat  of  agony,  and  the  angel  S3^mpatlnes 
of  that  memorable  night  in  the  garden  ?  What  mean 
the  judicial  mockery,  the  perjury  of  suborned  wit- 
nesses, the  scoffs  and  scourging,  the  spitting  upon 
and  buffeting  of  Pilate's  Hall  and  Herod's  audience 
chamber,  and  the  final  sentence  of  condemnation  so 
palpably  and  monstrously  unjust,  that  the  pagan 
judge  himself  strove  to  wash  his  hands  of  its  deep 
and  damning  guilt?  Look  at  the  scourged  and 
bleeding  Lamb  of  God,  meek  and  innocent,  bearing 
10"^ 


114  SERMON  V. 

his  cross  on  the  way  to  Calvary  !  "There  they  cru- 
cified him/'  There  he  voluntarily  makes  his  soul  an 
ofTering  to  God  through  the  eternal  Spirit  for  the 
sins  of  the  world!  What  mean  those  bodily  tor- 
tures? that  deeper,  keener  anguish  of  spirit  imprint- 
ed on  his  every  feature,  as  he  exclaims,  "Eloi,  eloi, 
lama  sabachthani!!"  What  means  that  darkness 
which  has  so  suddenly  veiled  all  tl>e  shining  hosts 
of  heaven  in  sackcloth  and  shrouded  earth  in  unwont- 
ed gloom?  Hark!  What  means  that  loud  cry — "It 
is  finished?'*  and  the  Son  of  God  gives  up  the  ghost! 
What  means  the  shock  that  nature  to  her  centre 
feels — that  shakes  the  world,  and  rends  the  rocks,  and 
cleaves  the  tombs,  and  wakes  the  dead?  0  !  this  is 
the  utterance,  this  the  sublime  eloquence  in  which 
God  proclaims  that  sinners  are  lost!!  The  blood 
of  Christ  shed  amidst  all  those  tragic  wonders  of  the 
crucifixion  is  the  mighty  expiation  made  to  save 
them!!  Nothing  less  than  this  would  have  been  an 
adequate  remedy  for  their  ruin.  Would  such  an 
atonement  ever  have  been  made,  such  attractions 
ever  have  centred  in  the  cross  to  draw  all  men  to  the 
Saviour,  had  they  not  been  "wretched  wanderers 
lost?"  What  need  we  farther  witness  on  this  point? 
Yet  the  ministration  of  the  Holy  Spirit  bears  ad- 
ditional testimony  to  this  melancholy  truth.  Why 
are  its  unseen  visits  and  almighty  energies  necessary 
to  the  soul's  conversion?  Were  sinners  not  abso- 
lutely lost,  why  would  it  be  requisite  that  God,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  should  become  their  counsellor  and 
guide?  Had  they  not  strayed  hopelessly  from  their 
God,  why  would  the  illuminations,  the  new-creating 
and  irresistible  energies  of  his  Spirit,  be  indispensably 


SERMON  V.  115 

necessary  to  bring  the  wanderers  home?  In  every 
visit  then  of  this  divine  Messenger  to  the  soul  of 
man,  God  is  bearing  a  silent  but  most  impressive  tes- 
timony to  the  truth,  that  the  sinner  is  lost,  in  him- 
self, hopelessly  lost! 

V.  The  conviclions  of  the  awakened  sinner  tes- 
tify that  men,  in  their  natural  state,  are  lost.  When 
under  the  convicting  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  estimate  which  man  has  of  his  real  condition  in 
the  sight  of  God  is  more  likely  to  approach  the  truth 
than  at  any  other  time.  To  aid  him  in  forming  a 
correct  opinion  of  his  moral  character  and  condition 
in  this  case,  he  has  the  illuminating  power  and  the 
successful  teachings  of  the  Spirit  of  truth  itself;  that 
divine  agent  whose  peculiar  function  it  is  to  "con- 
vince the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judg- 
ment to  come."  Now,  what  is  the  predominant  agi- 
tating thought  in  the  mind  of  the  merely  awakened 
sinner?  True,  he  feels  his  guilt  as  a  rebel  against 
God.  His  multiplied  and  heinous  sins  arise  in  spec- 
tral train,  and  terrify  his  soul.  The  fangs  of  remorse 
fasten  in  his  conscience;  he  condemns  himself,  and 
is  cut  to  the  heart  with  a  sense  of  ill  desert.  But 
when  well  nigh  goaded  to  agony  under  an  apprehen- 
sion of  the  enormity  of  his  guilt,  there  arises  another 
feeling  more  strangely  sad,  more  insupportably  de- 
pressing— the  feeling  that  he  is  lost.  No  child,  se- 
vered from  home,  and  straying  alone  in  a  pathless 
wood  by  night,  ever  wept  a  tear  or  uttered  a  moan 
of  desertion  and  solitude  comparable  to  those  of  the 
truly  awakened  and  convicted  sinner.  Oh,  what  an 
oppressive  loneliness  comes  over  his  soul !  He  hears 
not,  or  heeds  not  if  he  hear,  the  din  of  this  world's 


IIG  SERMON  V. 

mirth  and  business.  He  becomes  silent  and  sadly 
thoughtful.  To  him  now  his  exile  from  God  has 
become  a  living,  present,  felt  reality!  The  idea  of 
a  wretched  prodigal  in  a  far  country  commends  itself 
to  him  now  with  a  new  and  mournful  significancy, 
as  peculiarly  and  precisely  descriptive  of  his  own 
convictions  and  feelings  in  reference  to  his  present 
spiritual  state.  How  friendless  d^ndi  forlorn  does  he 
feel  himself  to  be!  Wandering  about  he  knows  not 
whither — homeless  and  shelterless,  outcast  and  soli- 
tary, his  heart  dies  within  him.  Lost  to  his  Father 
in  heaven — lost  to  the  blessed  Saviour  and  Shepherd 
of  souls — lost  to  hope — lost  to  the  present  joys  of 
salvatiort — lost  to  holiness — lost  to  the  anticipated 
home  of  all  the  righteous,  when  their  pilgrimage 
shall  have  ended — lost,  lost,  lost,  the  perpetual,  sad- 
dening sound  that  rings  in  his  ears — the  one  undy- 
ing thought  that  burns  his  bosom  to  the  core,  and, 
by  its  maddening  impulse,  drives  him  to  the  verge 
of  deep  despair!  It  is  the  predominance  and  pun- 
gency of  this  feeling  which  is  mainly  instrumental 
in  bringing  the  awakened  sinner  to  receive  and  ap- 
preciate Jesus  Christ  as  a  Saviour.  Now,  what  are 
we  compelled  to  infer  from  the  fact  that  such  is  the 
prominent  and  distressing  conviction  of  the  awakened 
sinner  respecting  his  stale,  in  the  honest  hours  of  his 
anxiety  about  his  soul?  His  tears,  his  sighs,  his  soli- 
tary anguish,  his  sense  of  deep  desertion — of  home- 
less exile — of  returnless  distance  from  God,  and  se- 
verance from  the  sympathies  and  fellowship  of  all 
the  holy — these  constitute  a  consenting  utterance  on 
this  point  from  every  awakened  sinner  since  Abel, 
"  deep  calling  unto  deep,"  in  their  convictions,  across 


SERMON  V.  117 

the  chasm  of  ages,  and  warning  tlie  impenitent  of 
every  generation  that  they  are  lost! 

VI.  Lastly. —  The  consciences  of  wicked  m&n  in 
the  dying  hour  testify  that  they  are  lost. 

The  testimony  of  conscience,  I  am  aware,  cannot 
always  be  taken  without  qualification.  It  is  capable, 
in  certain  circumstances,  of  being  so  bribed  and  per- 
verted as  to  bear  false  witness.  But  this  is  gene- 
rally effected  by  the  pleas  of  self-interest  and  sinful 
indulgence.  It  is  while  the  man  is  in  health,  and  in 
hot  pursuit  of  worldly  gain  or  guilty  pleasures,  that 
conscience  can  be  quieted  by  opiates,  or  suborned  by 
a  flattering  sophistry  to  testify  falsely.  When  men 
find  that,  willing  or  unwilling,  they  must  lay  them 
down  to  die,  and  quit  the  world,  then  the  tempta- 
tions to  bribe  and  pervert  conscience  lose  their 
power.  Now,  what  testimony,  articulate  or  inarti- 
culate, do  the  consciences  of  most  wicked  men  hear 
in  the  honest  dying  hour?  To  the  impenitent,  un- 
reconciled soul,  what  is  it  that  shrouds  that  hour  in 
a  darkness  so  deep  and  dismaying?  What  knits  that 
sinner's  brow  in  the  severity  of  more  than  mortal 
anguish?  What  causes  those  eyes  to  look  the  unut- 
terable agonies  of  the  soul  within?  What  has  drawn 
on  that  pallid  countenance  the  lines  of  a  wild,  un- 
earthly surprise  and  solicitude,  which  tell  of  a  fiiiling 
heart  and  of  fleeing  hope?  Why  is  that  lip  occa- 
sionally curved  in  maddened  determination,  as  though 
the  rebel  soul  were,  by  anticipation,  marshalling  its 
powers  of  enmity  and  resistance  to  meet  the  shock 
of  com.mencing  an  eternal  war  with  its  God?  Why 
is  there  no  celestial  ray  to  relieve  the  unbroken 
gloom  of  that  face — to  smile  on  the  sinking  features, 


118  SERMON  V. 

and  to  circle  the  wan  cheek  of  death  with  the  rain- 
bow of  immortal  hope  and  promise,  wreathed  even 
on  its  sweat  and  its  tears?  Are  all  these  tragic  phe- 
nomena the  necessary  attendants  upon  the  mere  phy- 
sical event  of  death  itself?  Must  all  these  sable  and 
sad  insignia  of  the  king  of  terrors  be  displayed  as 
symbols  to  tell  what  it  costs  a  safe^  happy  soul  to 
quit  the  body  and  pass  into  a  brighter,  better  scene 
of  being?  Ah,  no!  These  all  become  mournfully 
significant  of  something  quite  different  in  the  soul's 
last  conflict,  when  we  listen  to  the  testimony  of  the 
dying  sinner's  conscience.  That  testimony  is  sim- 
ple, brief,  direct,  and  terribly  sublime!  "/  am 
lost! — my  soul,  tny  immortal  soul,  is  eternally 
LOST !"  This  is  the  giant  thought  read  from  every 
line  of  agony  in  the  dying  countenance,  and  spoken 
with  a  hundred  tongues  in  every  death-groan;  this 
the  one  resistless  conviction  that  leads  the  way  in  all 
the  recoilings  of  horror  and  wild  dismay  of  dissolu- 
tion, and  that  brings  on  the  soul,  before  it  quite  for- 
sakes its  clay,  the  tremendous  foretaste  of  the  pains 
of  hell,  and  the  despair  of  a  ruined  eternity!  In 
every  impenitent  death-scene,  then,  since  Cain's, 
conscience,  in  all  the  overwhelming  eloquence  of 
that  last,  honest,  awful  hour,  has  borne  its  unequivo- 
cal evidence  to  the  fact  that  the  sinner  is  lost.  This 
is  its  last  echo  in  the  soul  as  it  quits  the  world,  and 
goes  to  have  the  truth  confirmed  in  the  final  sen- 
tence of  God's  tribunal! 

If  such  be  the  irrefragable  proof  that  the  impeni- 
tent sinner  is  lost,  then  we  infer,  in  the  first  place, 
that  Christians  ought  to  exert  themselves  most 
strenuously  for  his  salvation.     My  dear  Chris- 


SERMON  V.  1  ID 

tian  friends,  how  is  it  that  our  "  knees  are  feeble  and 
our  hands  hang  down  "  in  our  efforts  to  save  the 
lost  soul  ?  Had  you  the  same  evidence  that  one  of 
your  own  children,  or  one  of  your  neighbour's  chil- 
dren, were  literally  lost,  as  you  have  that  your  own 
children  and  others  around  you  are  spiritually  lost, 
oh,  would  it  be  possible  for  you  to  be  so  listless  and 
inactive?  And  yet  you  profess  to  believe  that  all 
the  interests  of  the  present  life  that  might  be  perilled 
by  an  individual  being  literally  lost,  are  but  as  the 
mere  dust  of  the  balance,  when  weighed  against  those 
eternal  interests  of  the  soul  that  are  in  jeopardy  every 
hour  till  the  lost  sinner  is  found  by  the  Saviour.  Re- 
capitulate here,  in  the  close  of  this  subject,  the  evi- 
dence which  gives  so  absolute  a  certainty  that  the 
impenitent  sinner  is  lost.  Contemplate  his  whole 
course  through  life.  Do  not  his  actions  proclaim 
more  emphatically  than  words,  that  he  is  lost? 
Think  of  his  intervals  of  restlessness  and  dissatis- 
faction with  himself,  when  his  mind  blindly  beats 
against  the  barriers  of  his  limited  earthly  portion,  in 
search  of  something  beyond.  Do  not  these  strug- 
gles of  the  immortal  principle  within  him  tell  both 
you  and  him  that  he  is  lost?  Review  the  dealings 
of  a  holy  God  with  him,  and  hear  the  voice  of  retri- 
butive justice,  in  flood  and  fire,  sword  and  pestilence, 
blighting  and  mildew,  famine,  desolation,  and  de- 
struction, warning  the  sinner  that  he  is  lost,  and  ap- 
pealing to  your  sympathies  in  his  behalf!  Read  the 
direct  declarations  of  scripture  on  this  subject,  and 
bow  reverently  to  these  awful  truths  of  God's  ora- 
cles. Look  at  all  the  provisions  of  the  gospel,  and 
see  how  the  assumption  of  the  sinner's  lost  estate 


120  SERMON  V. 

runs  throughout,  and  gives  character  to  the  whole 
remedial  scheme.  Every  aspect  and  office  of  the 
incarnate  Redeemer  silently  points  to  the  sinner  as 
lost.  Hear  that  loss  proclaimed  in  the  groans  of 
Gethsemane — in  the  tortures  and  cries  of  Calvary — 
echoed  at  the  tomb  of  Joseph,  and  reiterated  in  the 
ascent  from  Olivet,  and  let  your  heart  begin  to  yearn 
and  melt  over  the  sinner!  Hear  the  testimony  of 
the  deep  and  agitating  convictions  of  all  awakened 
sinners,  and  call  to  mind  the  wormwood  and  the  gall 
which  yourselves  once  tasted,  in  order  that  you  may 
feel  the  certainty,  the  fearful  reality,  of  the  sinner's 
lost  condition.  Go  to  the  death-bed  of  all  the  wicked, 
and  listen  to  the  united  testimony  of  their  consciences, 
shrieking  out,  in  the  despairing  agony  of  dissolution, 
the  awful  truth  that  the  sinner  is  lost.  Then  think 
of  the  nature  of  this  loss.  It  is  the  soul  that  is  lost; 
lost  to  holiness,  hope,  heaven,  God,  and  a  blessed 
eternity !  The  soul  of  your  brother — your  wife  or 
husband — your  sons  and  daughters,  are  thus  lost! 
Then  look  up  to  Christ  the  Saviour,  on  his  throne 
in  heaven,  and  behold  the  amazing  sympathy  there 
that  yearns  over  the  lost  soul,  that  woos  and  en- 
treats it  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  and  then  tell  me. 
Christian,  what  means  our  apathy  on  this  subject? 
Oh,  how  awfully  criminal  our  indolence!  Why  are 
not  our  hearts  wrung  with  agony,  and  our  arms 
nerved  with  the  strength  of  Christ,  for  their  rescue? 
Why  have  we  not  compassion  on  some,  pulling  them 
out  of  the  fire?  From  our  own  families,  and  from 
multitudes  around  us,  the  appalling  cry  comes  over 
our  souls  to-day — lost,  lost,  lost!  0  God!  awaken 
thy  people  to  weep,  and  pray,  and  labour  with  their 
might  for  the  salvation  of  the  lost. 


SERMON  V.  121 

Finally. — My  dear,  impenitent  hearers,  as  your 
lost  condition  has  hecn  so  satisfactorily  proven  to 
you  this  day,  how  can  I,  in  view  of  it,  dismiss  you 
from  the  sanctuary  again  without  a  word  of  tender 
expostulation,  and  a  tear  of  unaffected  sorrow  and 
sympathy.  I  am  bound,  by  my  high  commission  as 
God's  minister,  to  warn  you  faithfully  that  you  are 
lost;  or,  neglecting  to  do  so,  if  the  sword  of  divine 
justice  falls  on  you,  I  shall  be  responsible  for  the 
blood  of  your  souls  thus  shed.  But,  irrespective  of 
this,  there  is  something  in  the  very  thought  that  you 
ARE  lost  now  which  overwhelms  my  heart  with 
anguish.  The  dear  youth  of  my  flock  lost!  No 
Father  in  heaven  to  shelter  them  in  his  bosom 
amidst  the  storms  of  earth — no  Saviour  to  guide 
their  feet  in  the  path  of  life — no  Holy  Spirit,  the 
Comforter  and  Sanctifier,  to  be  with  them  amidst 
the  perils  and  pollutions  of  the  world — no  family  of 
angels  to  surround  their  dying  pillows — no  home  for 
their  precious  souls  in  that  boundless  hereafter  to 
which  they  hasten!  The  impenitent  of  every  age 
here  before  me  lost — straying  on  the  dark  moun- 
tains of  sin  to-day,  their  feet  in  slippery  places,  and 
doomed  to  slide  in  due  time,  and  they  to  fall  into  an 
eternal  perdition!  Oh,  can  it  be  indeed  so!  How 
hard  to  realize  it! — lost,  lost,  absolutely  lost  now, 
TO-DAY !  Oh,  ye  wanderers,  blame  not  the  tear  that 
starts  over  your  forlorn  condition !  What  can  I  do 
for  you?  My  lost  hearers,  oh,  what  can  I  do  for 
YOU?  You  are  out  of  the  way,  straying  from  your 
God,  and  hastening  to  the  deep  and  dark  chambers 
of  eternal  death !  What  sacrifice  would  1  not  cheer- 
fully make  to  reclaim  you.  I  am  willing  "to  spend 
U 


122  SERMON  V. 

and  be  spent  for  you " — to  devote  my  sorrowful 
days  and  wearisome  nights  for  your  benefit — to 
preach,  and  weep,  and  pray  for  you,  amidst  all  "  the 
pains  and  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to."  Will  you  hear 
me?  Oh,  will  you  just  give  me  your  serious,  undi- 
vided attention  while  I  repeat  to  you  the  blessed  an- 
nouncement of  the  text? — "For  the  Son  of  man  is 
come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 
Sinner,  He  is  here  seeking  for  you  in  the  sanctuary 
to-day.  He  speaks  to  you  in  that  silent  assent  which 
your  own  conscience  now  gives  to  the  truths  presented 
in  this  discourse.  His  finger  has  touched  your  heart 
in  that  tender  emotion  which  you  now  feel,  as  you 
reflect  on  your  lost  condition,  and  on  his  infinite 
condescension  in  coming  to  seek  and  to  save  you. 
Will  you  yield  to  him  now?  Will  you  permit  him 
to  take  you  by  the  hand  to-day,  and  lead  you  back 
from  all  your  wanderings  to  himself?  He  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life;  and  the  experience  of 
all  the  finally  lost  through  eternity  will  amply  attest 
the  tremendous  truth, — "  Lo,  all  they  that  are  far  from 
Thee  shall  perish!" 


SERMON  VI.  123 


SERMON   VI. 


"And  behold  there  talked  with  him  two  men,  which  were  Moses  and 
Elias ;  who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake  of  the  decease  which  he  should 
accomplish  at  Jerusalem." — Luke  ix.  30,  31. 

In  the  verses  immediately  preceding  the  text,  we 
have  the  record  of  the  only  aspect  of  visible  splen- 
dour or  personal  glory  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
ever  assumed  during  his  ministry  on  earth.  The 
circumstances  in  which  he  exhibited  this  specimen 
of  the  celestial  grandeur  of  his  divinity  were  very 
peculiar  and  of  a  kind  quite  confounding  to  human 
calculation.  It  was  not  in  the  royal  city,  the  centre 
of  curiosity  and  intelligence,  amidst  the  nobles  of 
the  nation,  the  men  of  science  and  the  dignitaries  of 
the  church  that  the  Son  of  God  shone  for  a  season  in 
the  native  resplendency  of  his  divine  nature.  It 
was  on  the  top  of  a  solitary  mountain  with  three 
humble  followers,  Peter  and  John. and  James,  as  the 
only  spectators.  It  was  not  when  working  some 
great  and  striking  miracle,  and  thus  asserting  his 
lordship  over  the  laws  of  nature,  and  his  claims  to 
an  equality  with  God,  the  Father  and  Creator.  It 
was  in  the  humble  posture  of  a  suppliant.  "As 
he  prayed,  the  fashion  of  his  countenance  was  al- 
tered, and  his  raiment  w\is  white  and  glistering:" 
(the  original  is,)  "  was  brilliant  and  dazzling  as  light- 
ning."    Such  was  the  amazing  change  that  had  sud- 


124  SERMON  VI. 

denly  passed  on  the  personal  appearance  of  the  Sa- 
viour, and  such  the  oppressive  splendour  of  that 
bright  cloud,  that  atmosphere  of  glory,  which  clad 
the  mountain  top,  and  closed  around  the  little  group, 
that  they  fell  on  their  faces  so  bewildered  with  sur- 
prise, fear,  and  joy,  all  blended,  that  they  knew  not 
where  they  were,  nor  what  they  said.  What  added 
greatly  to  the  wonder  and  awe  inspired  by  this 
scene,  was  the  mysterious,  yet  veritable  apparition 
of  two  individuals  from  beyond  the  curtained  boun- 
daries of  the  present  life — from  the  shadowy  realms 
of  those  long  dead !  These  two  individuals  came  on 
this  occasion,  not  in  those  misty  forms  and  pale  ha- 
biliments with  which  mortal  imagination  invests 
them,  but  as  redeemed  and  perfected  spirits  in  ce- 
lestial costume — in  the  resplendent  robes  of  their 
glory.  Mankind  have  always  entertained  the  idle 
wish,  or  the  wanton  curiosity  to  witness  some  di- 
rect and  magnificent  manifestation  of  the  Deity,  and 
to  see  or  know,  from  personal  observation,  some- 
thing of  departed  spirits.  Now,  here  is  a  divinely 
authenticated  case,  combining  both  these  coveted 
objects  of  knowledge.  But  sinful  curiosity  is  no 
better  satisfied,  than  had  this  instance  never  occurred. 
Here  is  "the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  his  person^^  on  a  mountain 
of  this  world,  in  the  radiance  of  his  divinity,  and 
his  own  word,  in  another  place,  assuring  us  that 
"  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father P  Will 
not  this  sufiice?  No!  this  is  not  the  place,  nor  this 
the  manner,  in  which  mere  idle  inquisitiveness 
wishes  to  be  gratified,  by  witnessing  a  sensible  mani- 
festation of  God.     The  Lord  Jesus  had  too  serious 


SERMON  vr.  125 

a)i  aim  in  his  transfiguration,  to  satisfy  tliis  vain 
wish,  it  was  to  establish  his  claims  as  the  Messiah, 
"the  Christ  of  God,"  and  thus  bring  on  man  the  ob- 
ligation to  believe  in  and  submit  to  Him,  and  the 
responsibility  of  refusing  Ilim  at  the  peril  of  eter- 
nal perdition.  The  carnal  heart  covets  no  display 
of  the  Godhead,  however  grand  and  imposing  in 
itself,  if  it  associates  considerations  like  these. 

But  again;  here  arc  Moses  and  Elias,  not  recalled 
like  Lazarus,  or  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain,  so 
soon  after  death,  as  to  leave  room  for  skepticism  to 
doubt  whether  their  souls  had  really  passed  into 
"  the  spirit  land."  No ;  the  one  had  been  dead  about 
fifteen  hundred,  the  other  about  nine  hundred  years. 
They  are  now,  each  in  his  appropriate  and  recog- 
nisable identity,  back  on  earth  again.  Will  not  this 
suffice  as  an  instance  of  real  return  from  the  veiled 
and  eternal  state  of  the  deceased?  No;  idle  cu- 
riosity is  grievously  disappointed  in  this  case,  be- 
cause these  two  made  no  marvellous  disclosures  re- 
specting the  mode  of  existence,  and  the  strange 
condition  and  employments  of  departed  spirits. 
This  is  the  more  tantalizing  to  such  curiosity,  from 
the  fact  that  the  record  states  that  these  two  re- 
turned spirits  were  not  silent  on  this  occasion.  They 
did  speak,  and  perhaps  in  mortal  language  too. — 
There  was  a  theme,  on  which  they  and  the  Son  of 
God,  amidst  all  the  glories  of  the  scene,  mutually 
conversed,  and  on  which  they  dwelt  with  a  thrilling, 
a  profound  interest.  But  what  mighty  topic  was 
befitting  an  hour  like  this,  and  sufficiently  grand 
and  commanding  for  an  interchange  of  thought  be- 
tween a  group  of  minds  the  most  exalted  that  ever 
11* 


126  SERMON  VI. 

have  met,  or  ever  will  meet,  in  the  world's  history. 
"  They  spake  of  the  decease  which  He  should  ac- 
complish at  Jerusalem  r^  How  it  mocks  the  cal- 
culations of  worldly  minds,  and  vexes  the  spirit  of 
vain  speculation,  on  the  future  condition  of  disem- 
bodied souls,  to  be  informed  that  these  two  distin- 
guished men,  Moses  and  Elias,  when  they  returned 
to  earth,  after  having  been  so  long  dead,  should  have 
made  the  death  of  Christ  the  only  and  all-absorbing 
subject  of  their  conversation.  And  yet,  this  very 
topic,  doubtless,  had  a  depth  and  intensity  of  inte- 
rest, sufficient  to  justify  the  Son  of  God  in  his  trans- 
figuration, and  these  two  glorified  spirits  in  their 
miraculous  return  to  earth,  in  bestowing  on  it  ex- 
clusively, the  conversation  of  their  splendid  inter- 
view on  the  mount.  I  propose,  then,  in  the  subse- 
quent remarks,  to  suggest  some  considerations  con- 
nected with  the  death  of  Christ,  which  we  may  sup- 
pose, were  deeply  interesting  as  subjects  of  conver- 
sation to  Moses  and  Elijah,  and  the  Saviour  himself, 
on  the  mount  of  transfiguration. 

I.  The  decease  which  Christ  should  accomplish 
at  Jerusalem,  was  to  be  the  consumm,ation  of  that 
system  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  in  which  Moses 
and  Elijah  had  felt  so  deep  an  interest  during 
life,  and  in  the  establishment  and  administration 
of  which  they  both  had  borne  so  distinguished  a 
part.  The  toils  of  the  one,  as  the  divinely  com- 
missioned legislator  of  Israel,  and  of  the  other,  as 
the  favoured  prophet  of  the  Lord  to  that  people,  en- 
ter largely  into  the  sum  of  that  human  instrumen- 
tality, by  which  God  founded  and  forwarded  the 
first  dispensation  under  which  his  great  remedial 


SERMON  VI.  127 

scheme  tor  man  was  developed  to  the  world.  The 
deep  interest  which  these  two  holy  men  felt  in  the 
progress  and  success  of  the  old  dispensation,  viewed 
as  the  commencement  of  God's  stupendous  plan  of 
mercy,  and  as  introductory  to  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  and  the  more  glorious  ministration  of  the 
gospel,  may  he  judged  of  hy  the  labours  and  self- 
denials,  the  sacrifices  and  sufferings  that  fill  the  his- 
tory of  their  long  and  anxious  lives.  With  an  en- 
largement of  mind  which  "the  inspirations  of  the 
Almighty"  only  could  give,  they  saw, even  through 
all  the  darkness  of  that  dispensation,  its  infinite  im- 
portance to  this  lost  and  guilty  world,  as  an  essen- 
tial preliminary  to  the  completed  developments  of 
the  gospel  in  these  last  times.  No  less  than  the 
gospel,  it  was  God^s  plan,  the  wisest  and  best  that 
could  be  formed  and  carried  forward  for  the  recove- 
ry and  moral  discipline  of  men  in  the  then  existing 
state  of  the  world.  It  was,  at  the  time,  the  only 
hope  of  our  fallen  race.  With  its  types,  and  sha- 
dows, and  ceremonies,  it  constituted  a  symbolical  al- 
phabet, suited  to  moral  infancy,  by  which  God  was 
teaching  those  great  and  vital  truths  that  are  now 
presented,  clearly  and  without  a  figure,  in  the  New 
Testament. 

W^hile  they  were  yet  on  earth,  both  Moses  and 
Elijah  saw  the  day  of  Christ  afar  off — they  had  a 
glimpse  of  the  "  Star  that  should  come  out  of  Jacob," 
twinkling  in  the  horizon  of  the  far  distant  future. 
They  saw,  too,  that  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  old 
economy,  pointed  to  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the  Messiah 
promised,  and  to  come — that  this  gave  it  its  entire 
significancy  as  a  divine  dispensation,  and  that  ulti- 


128  SERMON  VI. 

mately,  nothing  could  rescue  it  from  the  charge  of 
awful  imposture,  but  the  actual  appearance  of  just 
such  a  Messiah  as  Jesus  Christ,  who  should  sustain 
such  a  character,  and  suffer,  and  die,  just  as  he  was 
now  about  to  do  at  Jerusalem.  Is  it  matter  of  won- 
der, then,  that  during  their  lives,  Moses  and  Elijah 
should  have  felt  a  deep  and  absorbing  interest  in 
this  system  of  the  law  and  the  prophets?  But  they 
had  been  long  parted  from  this  world,  and  resident 
in  a  state  of  glory.  Yet  our  text  indicates,  that 
their  sympathies  and  holy  solicitude  were  still  iden- 
tified with  this  scheme,  that  they  watched  its  pro- 
gress, and  awaited  with  eager  expectancy  its  con- 
summation. It  imbodied  the  interests  and  the  hopes 
of  that  race  with  whom  they  once  mingled  in  these 
terrestrial  scenes,  and  over  whom  they  still  yearned 
in  the  celestial  charity  of  "the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect."  And  now,  they  had  returned  from 
glory  to  a  spot  of  earth  which  one  of  them  had  seen 
from  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  the  other  had  trodden 
over  in  the  execution  of  his  prophetic  office,  and 
here  they  meet  the  Messiah  in  the  glory  of  his 
transfiguration,  just  about  to  accomplish  a  decease  at 
Jerusalem,  which  would  consummate  that  great  sys- 
tem of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  which  had  en- 
grossed their  toils  and  cares  in  time,  their  sympa- 
thies and  benevolent  expectations  in  eternity.  What 
a  meeting  was  this! — the  only  one  ever  held  on 
earth  in  which  the  redeemed  in  heaven  were  repre- 
sented by  some  of  their  own  number  "appearing  in 
glory  P^  0!  with  what  rapture  did  these  exalted 
spirits  from  above  gaze  on  the  eternal  Son  of  God! 
With   what  eloquence   divine  did  they  talk  with 


SERMON  VI.  129 

Him,  and  He  with  them,  of  the  decease  which  he 
should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem,  of  its  mighty  effect 
as  the  closing  event  of  that  ancient  dispensation,  for 
whose  advancement  they  had  lived,  in  whose  partial 
light  they  had  died  in  faith  and  holy  hope,  and 
whose  completion  they  had  desired  for  ages  in 
heaven! 

H.  A  second  consideration  associated  with  the 
death  of  Christ,  w^hich  we  may  suppose  was  full  of 
interest  to  these  two  glorified  spirits,  was  the  slu- 
pefidotcs  influence  yet  to  he  exerted  by  that  event 
on  the  moral  condition  of  this  ivorld  which  they 
once  inhabited. 

It  does  no  violence  to  reason  or  revelation,  to  as- 
sume that  Moses  and  Elijah,  though  translated  to 
the  spheres,  and  possessing  the  perfected  and  im- 
partial benevolence  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  in 
glory,  yet  felt  a  peculiar  and  home-\\kG.  interest  in 
every  thing  that  had  a  direct  bearing  on  the  spiri- 
tual renovation  of  that  world  from  which  they  had 
themselves  been  redeemed.  Its  present  woes,  and 
its  prospective  blessings,  under  the  future  influence 
of  that  decease  which  should  soon  be  accomplished 
at  Jerusalem,  none  of  the  living  could  estimate  as 
could  these  two  glorified  minds.  The  long  ages 
which  JNIoses  and  Elijah  had  spent  in  the  light  and 
augmenting  intelligence  of  heaven,  must  have  great- 
ly enhanced  their  knowledge  of  the  number  and 
magnitude  of  those  tremendous  evils  which  sin  has 
introduced  into  the  world,  and  tended  to  swell  the 
holy  sympathies  of  their  hearts  in  its  behalf.  It  is 
the  world  where  they  once  dwelt,  tJie  home  of  their 
mortality,  inhabited  stillby  a  race  with  whom  they 


130  SERMON  vr. 

feel  themselves  connected  by  the  links  of  a  former 
existence,  and  their  miraculous  return  now  to  meet, 
on  one  of  its  mountains,  its  mighty  Redeemer,  brings 
back  the  tender  and  solemn  remembrances  of  ages 
gone  by,  and  deepens  their  interest  in  its  moral  des- 
tinies. But,  0!  how  differently  do  they  now  look 
on  the  desolations  which  sin  hath  wrought  on  this 
earth,  from  what  they  did  when  dwellers  here  in 
tenements  of  clay,  and  before  their  mortal  had  put 
on  immortality !  If,  in  the  present  life,  the  reviving 
influence  of  God's  Spirit  on  the  hearts  of  his  people 
brings  them  to  contemplate  the  ruin  and  miseries  of 
their  impenitent  fellow-men  with  an  enlargement 
of  view,  and  a  depth  of  feeling  so  much  beyond  the 
measure  of  their  ordinary  experience,  what,  in  the 
case  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  must  have  been  the  effect 
of  the  expanding  light  of  heaven  for  ages?  How 
gross  to  their  eye,  must  have  seemed  that  darkness 
which  covered  the  people — how  deep  and  dreadful 
its  folds  contrasted  with  the  cloudless  scene,  the 
robes  of  light,  and  glittering  crowns,  and  all  the 
bright  characteristics  of  their  existence  in  the  realms 
of  the  blest.  In  their  comprehensive  view,  what 
dire  realities  were  the  pollutions  and  degradations 
of  this  world  lying  in  wickedness,  contrasted  with 
the  purity  and  elevation  to  which  they  had  so  long 
been  accustomed  in  the  world  of  happy  spirits! 
How  numerous,  varied,  and  powerful,  the  prejudices 
of  men  against  the  gospel,  contrasted  with  the  esti- 
mate which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  see  it  re- 
ceive from  the  hosts  of  heaven,  and  the  holy  delight 
and  joyful  eagerness  with  which  angels  desired  to 
look  into  its  mysteries  of  g^ory  to  God,  and  blessed- 


SERMON  VI.  131 

ness  to  the  universe.  How  base  and  baleful  the 
various  forms  of  error  and  superstition,  contrasted 
with  those  lofty  and  intuitive  convictions  of  truth, 
and  that  intelligent,  spiritual  worship,  with  which 
they  and  their  celestial  associates  of  all  orders  had 
been  long  familiar !  How  fortified  and  gigantic  the 
enmity  of  the  human  heart  against  God,  contrasted 
with  that  sweetly  subdued  spirit  of  supreme  love 
that  they  had  witnessed  veiling  tlie  faces  of  cheru- 
bim, casting  crowns  of  glory  at  Emanuel's  feet,  and 
winging  every  mind  of  heaven's  myriads  for  a  swift 
and  implicit  obedience  to  Jehovah's  will!  From 
this  appalling  view  of  the  world  in  which  they  once 
dwelt,  Moses  and  Elijah  now  turn  their  thoughts, 
and  begin  to  converse  with  the  transfigured  Saviour, 
respecting  the  decease  which  he  should  accomplish 
at  Jerusalem.  Why.'*  because  they  see  that  that 
event  will  yet  exert  an  influence  which  shall  com- 
pletely change  the  moral  aspect  of  our  world.  Du- 
ring their  own  life-time,  each  of  them  was  aware 
that  it  was  this  grea#event,  indicated  by  sacrifices, 
and  beheld  afar  off  by  faith,  which  had  exerted  all 
the  redeeming  influence  that  the  world  then,  or  from 
the  beginning,  had  ever  experienced.  And  now, 
they  behold  and  actually  converse  with  the  long 
promised  Messiah  respecting  this  august  sacrifice  of 
himself,  just  on  the  eve  of  being  ofiered!  They 
now  see  that  it  will  soon  be  proclaimed  as  a  fact 
that  Christ  has  died  and  risen  again  the  third  day, 
and  that  this  simple  announcement  will  be  accom- 
panied by  so  glorious  a  "  ministration  of  the  Spirit," 
that  the  shadows  of  the  dispensation  in  which  they 
laboured,  will  suddenly  flee  away,  and  the  church 


132  SERMON  VI. 

of  God,  putting  on  the  beautiful  garment  of  her  New 
Testament  form,  shall  arise  and  shine  in  a  renovated 
glory.     They  see  that  it  is  the  Cross  of  Christ, 
preached  and  believed  on  in  the  world,  which  is  to 
carry  forward  "the  hidings  of  a  power"  that  shall 
yet  bring  out  "a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,"  a 
new  spiritual  creation  from  the  ruins  of  the  old.    At 
the  proclamation  of  this  decease  which  Christ  was 
then  about  to  accomplish  at  Jerusalem,  every  idol, 
great  and  small,  of  the  millions  of  heathen,  shall  yet 
be  dashed  on  their  faces  and  broken  as  Dagon  of 
old.     The  massive  and  complicated  frame-work  of 
paganism,  over  the  whole  earth,  shall  be  dissolved 
and  scattered  to  the  winds,  and  the  myriads  dark- 
ened, degraded,  and  enslaved,  within  its  enclosure, 
be  brought  out  into  the  marvellous  light,  and  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.     What  an  as- 
tonishing transformation  would  this  appear  to  us, 
could  we  conceive  of  it  as  completed  to-day!     But 
toe  contemplate  it  as  so  far  distant  in  the  future,  that 
it  well  nigh  loses  its  reality,  wl#!e  Moses  and  Elijah, 
being  long  done  with  our  measurement  of  time,  re- 
garded it  as  a  fact,  stript  of  its  relation  to  time,  and 
realized  in  their  minds  as  a  present  truth,  eflfected 
by  the  simple,   yet  sublime   means,  of  preaching 
Christ  crucified.     They  were  much   more  capable 
than  we,  of  computing  the  amazing  influence  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  atonement,  in  transforming  a  guilty 
dying  world.     This  was  the  great   central   event 
with  which  they  had  been  most  familiar  during  their 
lives,  as  looming  in  a  kind  of  severe  glory,  highest 
above  the  horizon,  that  then  bounded  their  prophetic 
vision,  and  as  pointed  to  by  all   the  awe-inspiring 


SERMON  vr.  133 

riles  of  the  economy  under  wliicli  they  ministered. 
It  is  now  at  hand,  and  they  converse  with  the  Son 
of  God  respecting  its  wondrous  power  to  revolu- 
tionize the  moral  condition  of  that  world  from  which 
they  were  redeemed,  and  which  they  had  now  re- 
visited. They  well  know  now  the  influence  of  this 
decease,  of  which  they  speak  as  the  chief  corner 
stone  of  that  glorious  kingdom  of  Messiah,  which 
they  had  prophesied  should  be  set  up  in  the  last 
days.  This  kingdom,  which  has  to  dispute  with 
the  powers  of  darkness  every  foot  of  territory  which 
it  gains — which  finds  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
leagued  in  deadly  hostility  against  it — which  finds 
every  subject  it  claims,  in  formal  revolt  and  deter- 
mined rebellion — which  has  to  contend  with  all  the 
obstacles  that  diversity  of  national  character  and 
habits — that  long  cherished  and  overgrown  systems 
of  error  and  delusion,  pride  and  prejudice,  throw 
in  its  way — this  kingdom  is  now  to  receive  an  im- 
pulse from  the  decease  of  which  they  speak,  that 
will  energize  it  to  force  its  march  over  them  all, 
and  make  its  triumphant  way  round  the  wide  world, 
leading  all  its  crowded  millions  captive,  bringing 
them  into  subjection  to  the  obedience  of  the  faith, 
binding  them,  notwithstanding  all  their  former  re- 
pellencies,  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  bonds 
of  peace,  pervading  every  heart  with  pure,  di:?iaLe- 
rested  love,  filling  the  vast  circle  of  human  society 
with  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  flooding  th*--  who!'  ^arth  with  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  lighting  it  up  with  millennial  giory. 
And  this  stupendous  achievement,  which  will  stand 
alone  in  the  eternal  administration  of  God  over  all 
12 


134  SERMON  VI. 

intelligences,  is  to  be  effected  by  that  decease  which 
Christ  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem!  What  a 
theme  for  Moses  and  Elijah,  as  they  talked  with 
Jesus!!  But  they  traced  still  farther  the  bearings 
of  this  decease  on  human  destiny.  They  saw  the 
connexion  between  the  event  that  was  to  follow, 
and  form,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  this  decease,  the  re- 
surrection of  Christ,  and  the  influence  it  would  have 
in  restoring  one  species  of  the  ruins  of  sin  in  our 
world,  for  which  no  recuperative  power  could  have 
even  been  conjectured,  that  is,  the  perished  bodies 
of  the  saints.  It  is  no  vague  fancy  to  suppose  that 
Moses  and  Elijah  felt  a  very  peculiar  interest  in  the 
mysterious  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  Let  it  be 
called  to  mind  here,  that  Elijah  was  caught  up  to 
heaven  in  the  body,  and  knew  from  experience  and 
consciousness,  what  a  wonderful  mechanism  of 
blessedness  the  human  body  was,  when  fashioned 
for  immortality,  and  for  ever  beyond  the  power  of 
death  and  the  grave.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  too, 
that  the  destiny  of  the  body  of  Moses  is  veiled  im- 
penetrably from  the  world.  Unlike  all  the  pious 
and  distinguished  before  and  after  him,  Moses  died 
alone  with  his  God  on  the  mount.  Though  not  ex- 
empt from  the  stroke  that  severs  the  soul  from  its 
frame-work  of  matter,  yet  his  body  may  have  been 
soon  reunited  to  his  spirit  in  its  permanent  resur- 
rectionary  glory,  and  it  may  have  been  this  very 
event,  this  re-union,  which  the  Devil  so  sternly  re- 
sisted when  he  ** disputed  with  Michael,  the  arch- 
angel, respecting  the  body  of  Moses.^'  Or,  perhaps, 
his  resurrection  had  been  reserved  for  this  splendid 
occasion,  and  he  now,  for  the  first,  appeared  in  the 


SERMON  vr.  135 

full  glory  of  his  redemption,  as  a  special  witness, 
to  confirm  the  truth  that  He  who  was  about  to  pass 
from  the  transfiguration  to  the  cross,  and  thence  to 
the  tomb  of  Joscpli,  was,  nevertheless,  ''the  resur- 
rection and  the  life.^^  If  these  thoughts  be  rea- 
sonable, then  we  may  imagine  what  a  subject  of 
profound  interest  this  was  to  Moses  and  Elijah, 
when  they  talked  with  Jesus  of  that  decease  which 
he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem,  as  connected 
inseparably  with  the  resurrection  of  that  whole  race 
with  which  they  were  still  linked  and  identified  by 
a  community  of  nature.  This  event  was  coupled 
with  one  whose  influence  was  yet  to  be  felt  on  every 
atom  of  all  the  organized  human  bodies  of  the 
world  through  all  the  ages  of  its  duration !  It  was 
the  decease  and  resurrection  of  Him  "who  shall 
change  our  vile  bodies,  and  fashion  them  like  unto 
his  glorious  bo^y."  What  a  wondrous  change  on 
the  utter  wreck  to  which  sin  has  reduced  our  mor- 
tal part !  These  events,  about  to  take  place  in  the 
holy  city  then,  w^ere  to  carry  with  them  reserved 
energies,  which,  at  the  winding  up  of  this  terrestrial 
scheme,  were  to  be  felt  by  the  undistinguished  ashes 
of  thousands  of  generations!  The  scattered  dust  of 
all  who  love  his  appearing,  He  who  w^as  now  about 
to  die  and  rise  again,  would  raise  up  and  reorganize 
in  the  unfading  beauty  of  immortal  youth  !  What 
a  glorious  triumph  this,  of  Christ  over  death  and 
hell ! — what  a  magnificent  consummation  to  re- 
deemed human  nature  !  and  what  a  theme  for  the 
interchange  of  thought  and  holy  emotion,  by  three 
such  personages  as  Christ,  and  Moses,  and  Elijah, 
clad  in  their  glory  on  the  top  of  Tabor!! 


136  SERMON  VI. 

III.  Another  consideration  which  we  may  sup- 
pose deeply  interested  Moses  and  Elijah  in  the  de- 
cease which  the  Saviour  should  accomplish  at  Jeru- 
salem, was  the  vast  influence  which  that  event 
would  have  on  the  moral  government  of  God  over 
those  other  and  loftier  provinces  of  the  divine  do- 
minions with  which  they,  as  redeemed  spirits,  had 
become  personally  acquainted.  Doubtless,  these 
two  exalted  minds,  in  the  long  ages  of  their  intel- 
lectual discipline  in  heaven,  and  with  the  range  and 
comprehensiveness  of  thought  thus  acquired,  must 
have  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  moral  government.  They  must  have  also 
obtained  overwhelming  views  of  the  immensity  of 
God's  kingdom — the  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds 
controlled  by  his  government.  They  could  see  the 
equity  and  glorious  adaptation  of  that  government 
to  all  the  various  orders  of  inteyigences  in  all 
worlds  over  which  it  was  extended.  They  could 
form  some  estimate  of  that  amazing  aggregate  of 
happiness  which  could  be  produced,  sustained,  and 
perpetuated  only  by  the  steady  and  increasing  in- 
fluence of  this  government  throughout  the  rational 
creation.  They  knew  that  the  order,  and  peace,  and 
purity,  and  bliss  of  God's  universal  empire,  whose 
extent  and  infinite  interests  they  had  been  studying 
during  their  long  residence  in  glory,  depended,  not 
on  an  arbitrary  fiat  of  his  physical  omnipotence,  but 
on  the  strength  of  those  peculiar  influences  exerted 
by  his  moral  governmenc.  We  cannot  easily  con- 
ceive how  important  it  appeared  to  Moses  and  Elijah 
that  that  government  should  be  sustained  over  the 
wide  universe  with  an  eternally  growing  and  efiec- 


SERMON   VI.  137 

rive  energy.  Atid  now,  amidst  all  the  thrilling  asso- 
ciations of  their  visit  to  earth,  after  so  long  an  ab- 
sence from  it,  in  a  brighter  |j^here,  and  amidst  all  the 
strange  glories  of  the  transfiguration,  the  decease 
which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem  engrosses 
their  attention  and  fires  their  eloquence,  as  they  talk 
with  Jesus  of  the  wondrous  influence  which  that 
event  will  yet  exert  on  the  moral  government  of 
Jehovah  over  his  entire  dominions,  and  through  the 
everlasting  duration  of  his  reign.  What  an  exhibi- 
tion of  the  divine  character  would  it  make  to  all 
worlds!  What  mightiest  one  of  all  the  exalted  ranks 
in  heaven  ever  thought,  till  he  witnessed  the  mea- 
sure of  God's  LOVE  in  the  gift  and  death  of  his 
only  begotten  Son  for  our  world,  that  this  attribute 
of  the  High  and  Holy  One,  whom  he  adored,  was 
so  ineffably  glorious  ? — that  God  himself  could  ex- 
ercise a  condescension  so  sublime — that  there  were 
in  his  infinite  nature  such  "  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  "  of  mercy  as  were  now  to  be  broken  up  and 
poured  in  diluvian  fulness  on  a  world  all  guilty  and 
degraded,  and  bound  over  to  the  retributions  of  a 
woful  eternity!  What  an  appeal  can  the  divine  go- 
vernment make  from  that  tragic  decease  accom- 
plished at  Jerusalem,  to  all  the  tenderness,  to  all  the 
love  and  loyalty,  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  the 
universe!  What  a  new  and  controlling  energy  does 
the  everlasting  love  of  God  carry  from  the  de- 
velopments of  the  cross  of  Christ  over  the  intelli- 
gent creation!  Moses  and  Elijah  knew  also  that 
another  element  of  strength  to  Jehovah's  moral  go- 
vernment was  furnished  by  the  alternating  and  con- 
trasted exhil)ilIons  of  mercy  niid  justice,  or,  as  tlie 
\2<^ 


1  38  SERMON  VI. 

scriptures  appropriately  express  it—"  the  goodness 
and  severity  of  God.^^  Now  what  one  of  the 
mightiest  "  spirits  in  prison,''  in  all  the  agonies  of 
his  immortal  wo  ever  thought,  till  he  witnessed  the 
measure  of  God's  wrath  against  sin,  in  the  cries,  and 
tears,  and  blood,  and  dying  anguish  of  his  only  Son 
at  Jerusalem,  that  there  was  in  the  being  of  a  God 
of  love  so  stern  and  awful  a  hatred  of  sin — so  in- 
flexible a  determination  to  punish  it — the  elements 
of  such  eternal  storms  of  holy  indignation  to  over- 
whelm the  finally  impenitent  and  incorrigible  of  his 
dominions!  What  incalculable  strength  do  the  sanc- 
tions of  God's  law  receive  from  such  an  event  as 
that  decease  accomplished  at  Jerusalem  by  his  own 
Son,  in  the  place  of  the  guilty.  What  an  appeal  to 
the  most  comprehensive  fea'rs  and  forebodings  of  all 
intelligences  can  his  government  now  make  while 
he  holds  up  before  them  the  midnight  of  deep  sor- 
rows in  the  garden,  and  the  morning  of  still  deeper 
woes  on  Calvary,  as  the  expression  of  his  feelings 
against  sin,  and  pours  on  their  astounded  ear  the  ex- 
clamation— "If  these  things  be  done  in  the  green 
tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry?"  Now  as  they 
converse  with  Jesus  on  this  subject,  what  may  we 
suppose  were  the  conceptions  whicli  Moses  and 
Elijah  formed  of  the  influence  which  his  decease 
would  exert  on  all  worlds  of  intelligences  through- 
out eternity!!  What  a  vision  it  opened  to  them! 
In  their  view  the  very  pillars  of  the  eternal  throne, 
at  whose  base  they  had  so  long  been  accustomed  to 
prostrate  themselves  and  worship,  seem  now  to  stand 
in  a  more  overawing  massiveness  and  stability! 
The  obedience  and  loyalty  of  the  entire  hoh^  crea^ 


SERMON  VI.  139 

tion  seem  now  to  be  doubly  secured  by  this  won- 
derful decease  of  the  Son  of  God,  whilst  his  moral 
gov'ernment  is  fitted  by  it  to  move  on  with  accele- 
rated speed,  and  ever  accumulating  power  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  all  its  measureless  purposes  of  good 
to  the  universe!  0  is  there  not  a  moral  grandeur 
in  this  theme,  rendering  it  pre-eminently  appropriate 
as  the  subject  of  conversation  by  the  Son  of  God  in 
his  transfiguration,  and  the  two  distinguished  spirits 
that  appeared  with  him  in  glory ! 

IV.  May  we  not  suppose  that  Moses  and  Elijah 
had  a  sufficient  knowledge  oithat  extended  and  sub- 
lime unity  amongst  God^s  intelligences  which  the 
scriptures  intimate  is  to  be  effected  by  the  death  of 
Chiust^  to  make  it  also  a  topic  of  this  conversation 
with  Jesus  on  the  mount?  That  the  blood-of  the 
great  atonement  was  designed  to  effect  a  reconcilia- 
tion to  the  Father,  or  a  unity  of  other  intelligences 
besides  man,  would  appear  probable  from  the  fol- 
lowing pointed  declarations  of  scripture: — "For  it 
pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness 
dwell.  And,  having  made  peace  through  the  blood 
of  his  cross,  by  him  to  reconcile  all  things  unto 
himself;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be  things  in 
earth  or  things  in  heaven."  What  may  be  the  pre- 
cise character  of  this  reconciliation  of  the  "things 
in  heaven  "  b}^  the  blood  of  the  cross  we  know  not, 
and  perhaps  cannot  know  at  present.  But  it  must 
be  a  result  of  ^infinite  importance  to  the  holy  of 
God's  upper  kingdom;  for  it  "  pleascd'the  Father" 
that  in  Christ  "all  fulness  should  dwell,"  which 
might  be  necessary  not  only  to  reconcile  unto  him- 
self the  "  things  in  earth,"  but,  in  some  mysterious 


140  SERMON  VI. 

and  wonderful  way,  to  bring  all  orders  of  celestial 
beings  into  a  more  glorious  harmony,  a  more  inti- 
mate union  with  the  infinite  God  himself.  Whether 
it  was  the  attraction  which  his  attributes,  as  exhi- 
bited in  the  blood  of  the  cross,  would  exert  on  the 
holy  orders  of  heaven,  drawing  them  towards  Him 
with  emotions  in  unison  with  those  of  reconciled 
and  redeemed  souls  on  earth,  or  whether  it  was  a 
union  of  views  amongst  all  intelligences  in  heaven 
and  earth  respecting  the  wisdom,  grandeur,  and 
transcendent  influence  of  the  atonement  as  a  mea- 
sure of  the  divine  government;  or,  still  further, 
whether  it  was  a  glorious  harmonizing  or  uniting  of 
the  activities,  the  social  principles,  and  the  spirit- 
ual joys  of  all  orders  in  heaven  and  earth,  so  as  to 
bring  the  entire  holy  creation,  as  the  heart  and  the 
soul  of  one  man,  eternally  more  close  to  the  great 
Jehovah  than  it  ever  would  have  been  but  for  the 
blood  of  the  cross,  we  are  not  competent,  at  present, 
to  decide.  But  we  think  it  not  presumptuous  to 
suppose  that  Moses  and  Elijah,  after  their  blissful 
centuries  in  glory,  did  understand  the  nature  of  this 
comprehensive  and  august  reconciliation  or  unity  of 
all  orders  of  intelligences,  and  see  the  connexion 
which  such  an  arrangement  of  his  universal  king- 
dom had  with  new  and  more  exalted  disclosures  of 
the  God  whom  they  adored.  Whatever  this  great 
result  may  be,  and  with  all  its  bearings  on  the  rela- 
tion between  celestial  beings  and  God  himself,  Mo- 
ses and  Elijah  saw  that  it  was  to  be  effected  by  the 
decease  which  Christ  should  accomplish  at  Jerusa- 
lem. It  was  "  the  blood  of  his  cross''  that  was  to 
work  this  amazing  change  on  the  "things  in  hea- 


SERMON  vr.  141 

ven."  And  though  so  high  a  mystery  that  the 
scriptures  but  hint  at  it,  and  mortal  capacities  can- 
not penetrate  it,  nor  mortal  tongues  speak  intelli- 
gibly on  the  subject,  yet  these  two  i?nmoi'taIs,  re- 
turned to  our  earth  in  glory,  talked  with  Jesus  on 
the  mount,  of  this  vast  and  glorious  result  of  his 
atonement  as  a  part  of  the  joy  set  before  him,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  animating  him  for  the  conflict 
and  dee])  sorrows,  the  ignominy  and  the  tortures  of 
his  crucifixion,  as  well  as  to  fire  their  own  spirits 
with  the  hope  of  an  enhanced  blessedness  from  this 
source  through  immortality.  And  this  leads  to  the 
remark, 

V.  Lastly. — That  it  is  most  natural  to  suppose 
that  Moses  and  Elijah,  in  conversing  with  Jesus  re- 
specting the  decease  which  he  should  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem,  spake  of  the  injluence  which  that  event 
would  exert  on  the  happiness  of  heaven  through 
eternity.  On  this  topic  the  limits  of  time,  not  to 
say  of  capacity  also,  forbid  us  to  expatiate.  In  a 
world  so  replete  as  ours  with  the  curse  and  the 
woes  of  apostacy  from  its  God,  tlie  best  conceptions 
ive  can  form  of  the  bliss  of  heaven,  in  its  lowest  de- 
gree, are  feeble,  vague,  and  totally  unworthy  the 
lofty  theme.  But  these  two  redeemed  spirits  la- 
boured under  no  such  disadvantage.  They  had  just 
returned  from  the  upper  world,  with  all  their  capa- 
cities dilated,  and  overflowing  with  its  happiness. 
The  one  had  spent  fifteen  hundred,  the  other  nine 
hundred  of  our  years,  amidst  the  unapproachable 
light  and  unspeakable  joys  of  heaven.  They  knew 
Ihe  nature  of  those  joys,  from  what  sources  they 
were  derived,  and  what  events  in  the  divine  admi- 


142  SERMON  VI. 

nistration  were  adapted  to  promote  them.  What, 
then,  may  have  been  their  conceptions  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  death  of  Christ  on  the  bliss  of  heaven 
through  eternity!  What  an  overwhelming  thrill  of 
joy  did  the  exhibition  of  the  divine  character  given 
in  that  event  produce  around  and  nearest  the  throne 
of  the  Eternal !  And  how  will  the  memory  of  it, 
cherished  deeply  by  holy  millions  of  superior  intel- 
ligences, keep  up  those  ever-widening  waves  of  bliss 
that  it  put  in  motion,  till  their  circumference  shall 
have  included  every  holy  mind  in  the  universe,  and 
completed  the  circle  of  eternity !  How  many,  in 
other  and  distant  worlds,  may  have  been  saved  from 
hopeless  apostacy  by  the  influence  which  the  death 
of  Christ  gave  to  God's  moral  character  over  them, 
and  by  the  far-reaching  attractions  of  the  cross,  been 
brought  to  swell  his  train,  and  augment  the  joys  of 
his  celestial  courts!  For  it  has  always  seemed  to 
me  that  holy  beings  on  probation  might  be  essen- 
tially aided  in  keeping  "their  first  estate"  by  the 
influence  of  the  death  of  Christ,  as  well  as  that  fallen 
beings  should  be  recovered  and  ultimately  saved  by 
it.  But  what  transports  of  bliss  will  it  send  through 
heaven,  what  raptures  impart  to  its  sweetest  song, 
when  all  its  inhabitants  are  summoned  to  celebrate 
the  final  victory  of  the  Son  of  God  over  the  whole 
world,  and  his  ultimate  triumph  over  death  and 
hell,  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  and  the  day 
of  judgment,  all  resulting  legitimately  from  the  de- 
cease which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem! 
What  splendid  events  are  these,  on  which  angels' 
thoughts  and  angels'  tongues  will  for  ever  dwell 
with  a  fuller  and  deeper  delight  from  the  very  fact 


SERMON   VI.  143 

that  they  are  the  consequence  of  the  death  of  their 
adored  Lord!  And  then  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
myriads  of  this  world  rescued  from  the  doom  of  an 
eternal  hell,  and  raised  to  the  joys  of  an  endless 
heaven,  only  by  the  blood  of  the  cross.  These  are 
all  an  absolute  gain  to  the  happiness  of  the  universe 
that  could  be  effected  alone  by  the  great  atonement. 
Now,  were  this  multitude,  which  no  man  can  num- 
ber, to  enjoy  but  a  low  degree  of  happiness  through 
eternity,  still,  in  this  view,  the  influence  of  that  de- 
cease of  Christ  which  secured  this  blessedness  would 
be  very  great,  it  being  a  blessedness  absolutely  ad- 
ditional  to  all  that  ever  could  have  existed  in  the 
dominions  of  God,  had  it  not  been  for  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain.  But  the  scrip- 
tures intimate  that  the  bliss  of  those  redeemed  from 
amongst  men  is  to  be  very  peculiar — is  to  have  an 
intensity  all  its  own.  In  heaven  the  spirits  of  just 
men  made  perfect  are  to  hold  a  peculiar  relation  to 
the  Lord  that  bought  them.  They  are  to  be  like 
him;  the  only  beings  in  heaven  that  will  exhibit  an 
exact  pattern  of  his  glorified  human  nature  on  the 
mediatorial  throne.  They  are  to  have  a  new  name 
given  them,  which  none  know  but  they  that  receive 
it.  They  are  to  sing  a  neio  song — the  song  of  Mo- 
ses and  the  Lamb.  What  an  intimation  is  here  of 
bliss  the  most  exquisite,  that  is  to  be  enjoyed  in 
heaven!  Now,  Moses  and  Elijah  knew  what  a 
depth  of  meaning,  what  a  divine  significancy,  this 
intimation  respecting  the  joys  of  heaven  contained. 
They  had  long  experienced  those  joys,  and  had 
tuned  their  harps  and  tried  their  immortal  voices  on 
the  new  song,  and  had  learned  that  its  sweetest  ac- 


144  SERMON  VI. 

cents  were  imparted  by  the  death  of  Christ.  "To 
him  that  loved  us  and  washed  us  in  his  own  blood" 
was  the  most  rapturous  line  in  that  seraphic  song! 
This  they  knew  had  been  and  was  to  be  the  theme 
of  the  great  hallelujah  chorus  of  heaven's  eternal 
anthem!  But,  in  addition  to  the  influence  which 
the  death  of  Christ  would  exert  on  the  bliss  of  re- 
deemed myriads  for  ever,  these  two  glorified  spirits 
saw  that  that  event  also  held  a  causative  connexion 
with  the  most  august  scene,  perhaps,  that  now  re- 
mains to  be  unfolded  amidst  all  the  disclosures  of 
God's  eternal  administration;  that  is,  the  consum- 
mation of  ImmanueVs  mediatorial  reign,  when 
he  shall  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  at 
the  time  of  the  restitution  of  all  things !  The  influ- 
ence which  so  sublime  an  issue  may  have  on  the 
joys  of  all  holy  beings  we  cannot  conjecture,  though 
doubtless  Moses  and  Elijah  could.  At  this  great 
juncture  in  the  cycle  of  eras  and  ages,  when  the  me- 
diatorial scheme  shall  have  attained  all  its  ripened 
and  ulterior  results,  and  shall  no  longer  be  neces- 
sary, but  God,  the  absolute  God,  shall  be  "  all  in 
all,"  it  is  probable  that  the  condition  of  his  univer- 
sal kingdom  will  approximate  very  nearly  to  what 
it  was  before  sin  entered,  and  invaded  its  peace  and 
blessedness.  All  enemies  to  its  happiness  and  holi- 
ness will  then  have  been  put  under  the  Mediator's 
feet,  every  disturbing  cause  shall  cease,  and  that 
glorious  and  final  order  which  God  eternally  pur- 
posed for  his  empire  shall  be  established,  which  will 
pour  new  tides  of  joy  over  the  universe  for  ever! 
Oh,  we  seem  to  see  the  unearthly  animation  of  their 
countenances,  the  expression  of  kindling  rapture  in 


SERMON  VI.  145 

every  line  and  feature,  as  they  talk  with  Jesus  on 
the  near  prospect  of  his  sufferings,  and  encourage 
him  hy  pointing  to  this  glory  that  should  follow, 
and  to  these  infinite  joys  set  before  him!  What 
wonder  that,  with  such  a  theme  filling  the  souls 
and  firing  the  tongues  of  Christ,  and  JNIoses,  and 
Elijah,  the  fashion  of  their  countenances  should  be 
so  changed,  and  they  should  appear  in  so  transcend- 
ent a  glory  as  utterly  to  overwhelm  the  three  mor- 
tal disciples  who  were  spectators  at  this  scene! 
Mortal  eyes  were  too  feeble  to  look  steadfastly  on 
so  rich  a  specimen  of  celestial  splendour  in  our 
world — mortal  ears  too  weak  to  listen  to  this  burst 
of  immortal  eloquence,  as  they  talked  with  Jesus, 
and  spake  of  the  decease  which  he  should  accom- 
plish at  Jerusalem ! 

We  learn  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place, 
with  what  interest  lue  ought  to  meditate  and  con- 
verse on  the  death  of  our  blessed  Lord.  Nume- 
rous topics  of  thought  and  of  conversation  must  ne- 
cessarily have  suggested  themselves  to  Moses  and 
Elijah  during  this  visit  to  a  world  where  they  had 
once  lived,  suffered  and  died,  and  from  which  they 
had  been  so  long  absent.  But  the  decease  which 
the  Son  of  God  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem  in- 
volved interests  and  issues  of  such  amazing  magni- 
tude as  to  make  it  the  absorbing  theme,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  others.  And,  my  dear  hearers,  our 
best  interests  and  most  exalted  destinies,  for  the 
world  of  time  and  the '^  world  without  end,"  are 
inseparably  connected  now  witii  this  same  wonder- 
ful event.  The  cross  of  Christ  ought  still  to  be  the 
great  centre  of  all  our  thoughts — the  commanding 
13 


146  SERMON  VI. 

theme  of  every  tongue.  By  it  we  are  to  be  cruci- 
fied to  the  world,  and  the  world  to  us.  From  it  our 
souls  derive  their  nobler  life.  With  it  stand  con- 
nected all  our  correct  knowledge  of  God,  in  the 
glories  of  his  redeeming  mercy;  all  our  best  know- 
ledge of  ourselves — our  condition  here,  and  our  pro- 
spective destinies  hereafter.  By  the  cross  tempta- 
tion loses  its  power,  sin  its  dominion  and  polluting 
influence — grace  grows — the  soul  is  transformed  into 
the  beauty  of  holiness,  triumphs  at  last  over  death, 
and  takes  its  upward  flight  from  Calvary  to  hea- 
ven. Oh!  how  profoundly  ought  ive  to  meditate 
on  the  decease  which  Christ  hath  accomplished  at 
Jerusalem!  And,  brethren,  with  what  a  concentra- 
tion of  thought  and  feeling,  with  what  clear  and 
piercing  views  of  faith,  ought  we  to  approach  the 
ordinance  which  commemorates  this  unparalleled 
event!  Oh,  what  might  not  this  church  obtain  to- 
day by  coming,  whole  heart  and  soul,  into  the  ful- 
ness of  this  subject — the  death  of  Jesus  Christ;  his 
death  for  us  while  we  were  yet  sinners!  One 
hour  of  intense  and  well-directed  meditation  on  this 
amazing  event,  especially  while  the  memorials  of  it 
are  present  and  appealing  to  our  very  senses,  might 
change  the  moral  aspect  of  this  church,  cause  its 
face  to  shine  as  an  angel's,  and  its  garments  to  be 
white  and  glistering  as  its  Lord's  for  years  to  come! 
We  learn  from  this  subject,  again,  that  those  who 
are  best  qualified  to  judge  of  it  have  a  very  diffe- 
rent estimate  of  the  death  of  Christ  from  that  of 
men.  Redeemed  spirits  in  glory,  and  higher  or- 
ders of  intelligences,  are  assuredly  more  competent 
than  men  to  judge  in  this  matter.   The  Bible  teaches 


SERMON  VI.  147 

that  the  former  are  all  intensely  interested  in  this 
most  signal  event.  Angels  desire  to  look  into  it. 
The  third  heaven,  if  we  may  judge  from  these  two 
visitants  on  the  mount,  who  came  directly  from  its 
light  and  joys,  is  full  of  this  theme.  It  wakes  the 
loftiest,  loudest  strains  of  the  praises  of  eternity,  and 
wraps  in  dilating  adoration  the  most  exalted  minds 
amongst  the  thrones  and  dominions,  the  principali- 
ties and  powers  in  heavenly  places.  They  are  so 
overawed  with  these  revelations  of  glory  that  have 
followed  and  are  yet  to  follow  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  that  they  are  represented  as  falling  down 
and  worshipping  "  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne 
and  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever."  Now,  while 
these  mighty  intelligences  are  lying  on  their  faces 
before  the  throne  and  amidst  their  scattered  crowns 
at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  what  think  you  is  their  esti- 
mate of  the  decease  which  he  accomplished  at  Jeru- 
salem? Oh,  what  an  event  is  that  in  the  regards  of 
all  the  loftier,  nobler  hearts  of  the  moral  creation  ! 
How  awfully  do  the  opinions  of  the  cold  Unitarian 
and  the  proud  Rationalist  contrast  with  the  estimate 
of  the  death  of  Jesus  cherished  by  the  bowing, 
adoring,  glowing  hearts  of  heaven,  as  they  exclaim, 
with  a  loud  voice,  ^'■Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  ivas 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing!'' 

Finally. — This  subject  presents  in  a  striking 
light  the  heinous  guilt  of  those  loho  reject  a  dying 
Saviour.  Whilst  all  the  unfallen  and  the  redeemed 
of  God's  dominions  arc  keenly  alive  to  the  great 
interests  and  eternal  results  of  the  decease  accom- 
plished at  Jerusalem,  does  it  not  seem  a  shocking 


148  SERMON  VI. 

paradox,  that  the  very  creatures  for  whom  espe- 
cially Christ  died  should  disregard  his  death,  and 
utterly  reject  him  as  a  Saviour?  My  impenitent 
hearers,  how  shall  I  address  you  on  this  subject?  If 
the  views  presented  in  this  discourse  be  sound  and 
scriptural,  then  there  is  a  magnitude  and  a  malignity 
in  your  sin  of  rejecting  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  to  be 
compelled  in  faithfulness  to  tell  you  is  truly  heart- 
rending! Will  you  not  look  at  it  yourselves,  now, 
in  the  light  which  is  thrown  upon  it  from  the  mount 
of  transfiguration?  This  Jesus,  the  fashion  of  whose 
countenance  is  now  so  changed  with  radiant  glory, 
and  who  is  proclaimed  from  the  bright  cloud  that 
overhangs  him  to  be  God's  eternal,  well-beloved 
Son,  is  the  one  whom  you  reject,  and  whom,  by 
doing  so,  the  Scriptures  affirm  you  "  trample  under 
fooiP^  The  blood  which  he  shed  in  that  decease 
which  he  accomplished  at  Jerusalem — that  amazing 
decease  which  was  the  theme  of  conversation  by 
Moses  and  Elijah,  in  their  visit  from  eternity  to  the 
Son  of  God,  on  the  mount — which  is  connected 
with  the  happiness  of  earth  through  all  time,  and 
the  bliss  of  heaven  through  all  eternity — which  is 
filling  all  the  noblest  minds  and  warmest  hearts  of 
universal  being  with  new  and  wonderful  thoughts 
and  emotions — on  which  the  holy  creation,  with 
Jehovah  as  their  exemplar,  have  placed  an  infinitely 
high  estimate — the  blood  which  he  shed  in  such  a 
decease,  and  shed  for  you,  is  the  very  blood  which 
your  God  charges  you  with  "  counting  an  unholy 
thing  V 

But  I  cannot  pursue  this  fearful  subject  further. 
Christian,  how  does  the  sin  of  rejecting  Christ  ap- 


SERMON  VI.  1  49 

pear  io  you't  Oh,  sinner!  how  does  this  sin  now 
appear  to  you,  under  the  weight  of  its  unpardoned 
guilt?  How  does  it  appear  to  Moses  and  Elijah, 
and  all  the  redeemed  in  heaven,  and  the  holy  of  the 
universe?  Oh,  exalted  Son  of  God!  how  must  this 
sin  appear  in  thine  eyes,  that  once  wept  in  Geth- 
semane  and  were  sealed  in  the  darkness  of  Calvary, 
but  are  now  as  a  flaming  fire,  piercing  with  their 
burning  gaze  the  sinner's  inmost  soul! 


150  SERMON  VII. 


SERMON  VII. 


"  Surely  every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  shov7." — Psalm  xxxix.  6. 

In  the  representations  of  human  life,  contained 
in  the  Scriptures,  there  is  a  tender  and  touching 
melancholy.  To  illustrate  its  brief  and  transitory 
nature,  the  Bible  selects  images  of  the  most  delicate, 
frail,  and  passing  objects  around  us.  It  is  said  to 
be  "as  the  grass,  and.  as  the  flower  of  the  grass," — 
"as  the  swift  ships" — as  the  flight  of  the  eagle  "has- 
tening to  the  prey  " — "  as  a  tale  that  is  told  " — as 
"a  vapour  that  appeareth  for  a  little  while,  and  then 
vanisheth  away" — "a  wind  that  passeth  away  and 
cometh  not  again  " — as  a  handbreadth  " — "  as  no- 
thing and  vanity''^  compared  with  the  eternal  being 
of  God.  These  figures  of  speech  indicate  a  brevity 
of  human  life,  sufficiently  humbling  and  tantalizing 
to  the  fond  hopes  and  proud  aspirations  of  man. 
It  requires  but  little  depth  of  thought,  on  this  sub- 
ject, to  be  convinced,  that  in  addition  to  this  mourn- 
ful brevity,  there  is  much  also  that  is  unsubstan- 
tial  and  shadowy  in  our  present  existence.  So- 
phocles, a  heathen  poet,  many  centuries  ago — ar- 
rived at  this  conclusion,  and  made  a  declaration  very 
similar  to  that  of  the  psalmist  in  our  text.  He  re- 
marks, "I  see  that  we  who  live  are  nothing  else 
but  images  and  a  vain  shadow."     This,  indeed,  is  a 


SERMON  VII.  151 

peculiarly  sorrowful  view  of  human  life.  Its  length 
is  but  ^*a  handsbreadth " — its  duration  "as  the 
flower  of  the  grass/'  and  yet  shadows  instead  of 
substance  make  up  the  greater  part  of  this  momen- 
tary existence. 

7'he  world  is  one  great  stage,  and  its  mighty  ge- 
nerations as  so  many  actors  arrayed  in  mock  cos- 
tume, and  sustaining  assumed  and  unreal  characters, 
and  performing  the  hollow  feats  of  those  mere 
images  thrown  on  the  canvass,  by  certain  optical 
instruments.  So  truly  does  this  illustrate  much 
that  pertains  to  our  present  life  that  the  saying  has 
well  nigh  become  proverbial, — "What  shadows  we 
are,  and  what  shadows  we  pursue."  How  unsub- 
stantial is  every  thing  that  is  related  onli/  to  our 
fleeting  earthly  existence  !  Its  joys,  and  its  sor- 
rows, its  hopes  and  its  fears,  its  plans  and  purposes, 
its  toils  and  cares,  and  sleepless  solicitudes  are  but 
as  the  shadows  that  paSs  over  the  plain,  compared 
with  those  spiritual  things  related  to  the  soul  as  a 
moral  and  immortal  agent  living  and  acting  for  eter- 
nity! When  we  confine  our  views  exclusively  to 
our  present  existence,  and  analyze  critically  all  its 
elements  and  varying  phases,  we  feel  that  the  de- 
claration of  the  psalmist  in  the  text  has  a  most 
mournful  significancy.  '^  Surely  every  man  walk- 
eth  in  a  vain  show.'' 

Permit  me  now  to  submit  to  you,  my  hearers, 
some  considerations  to  illustrate  and  confirm  this 
inspired  assertion. 

I.  Every  man  walks  in  a  vain  show,  as  respects 
the  plans  of  life,  which  he  forms.  To  a  superficial 
observer,  the  plans  and  enterprises  of  men  have  of- 


152  SERMON  VII. 

ten  a  most  imposing  aspect — they  make  a  great 
show  in  the  world.  Contemplate  every  man's 
plans  of  gain — of  acquiring  riches.  Are  they 
founded  on  sober  real  data  ?  Are  they  influenced 
and  modified  essentially  by  the  great  principles  of 
analogy,  which  the  experience  and  observation  of 
all  past  generations  suggest  in  such  a  case  ?  Are 
the  foundations  of  these  plans,  laid  in  soberness  and 
truth  ?  Do  they  accord  with  attested  realities  in 
the  past  history  of  our  race  ?  No.  They  are  pro- 
jected on  a  scale  of  magnitudes,  such  as  exists  only 
in  the  fairy  realms  of  fancy,  and  such  as  never  yet 
measured  the  actual  success  and  prosperity  of  any 
man  in  similar  circumstances.  An  exaggeration  at- 
taches to  them,  that  places  these  plans  amongst  the 
dreams  of  romance,  or  the  incidents  of  fiction,  rather 
than  amongst  the  sober  realities  of  human  experi- 
ence. No  one  man  of  a  million  ever  realizes  in  all 
its  parts,  the  gorgeous  picture  of  wealth  and  pros- 
perity which  the  extravagant  pencil  of  youthful 
fancy  has  painted  for  him.  His  schemes  wholly 
overlook  the  cross  incidents  that  must  be  encoun- 
tered in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  that  are  inevita- 
ble in  a  system,  where  man's  impotency  to  make 
that  "  which  is  crooked,  straight,"  stands  confessed 
in  every  page  of  the  history  of  human  endeavours. 
These  plans  seem  to  be  formed  on  the  assumption 
that  man  himself  has  the  control  of  the  very  ele- 
ments, and  is  the  all-potent  arbiter  of  events.  They 
have  also  an  almost  illimitable  compass,  and  con- 
template a  duration  for  their  accomplishment  twice 
or  thrice  the  ordinary  length  of  life  itself.  Under 
the  impulses  of  a  young  and  ardent  imagination,  man 


SERMON  vir.  153 

enters  on  the  execution  of  these  chimerical  plans 
flushed  with  the  hope  of  complete  success.  Does 
he  not  in  this  respect  "  walk  in  a  vain  show  ?''  Are 
not  these  plans  in  their  very  nature,  more  like  the 
shadows  of  objects  magnified  by  the  solar  micro- 
scope, than  the  objects  themselves  seen  by  the  na- 
ked eye  in  an  ordinary  light?  In  the  attempt  to 
realize  them,  will  they  not  prove  to  be  but  shadows, 
and  elude  his  grasp  when  man  in  the  eagerness  of 
his  pursuit  seems  within  a  single  step  of  the  con- 
summation of  his  wishes?  This  mockery  of  panting 
desire  and  breathless  haste,  and  palpitating  expec- 
tancy of  the  crown  of  wealth,  has  occurred  in  in- 
stances so  numerous  as  to  confirm  and  give  point  to 
the  assertion  of  our  text — that  "every  man  walketh 
in  a  vain  show." 

This  sentiment  is  equally  verified  in  tlie  plans 
which  men  form  to  acquire  fame.  The  love  of  re- 
putation is  natural,  and  the  desire  to  enjoy  the  good 
opinion  of  others,  if  kept  within  proper  limits,  is 
laudable,  and  exerts  a  salutary  influence  on  charac- 
ter; but  this  instinctive  desire  is  often  perverted, 
and  passes  into  a  jjassion  for  fame.  Under  its  mor- 
bid influence,  men  form  the  most  extravagant  plans 
for  the  acquisition  of  this  airy  good.  In  his  calcu- 
lations each  one  takes  not  into  the  account  how 
many  eager  competitors  will  crowd  and  jostle  him 
in  the  road  to  fame.  He  does  not  measure  the 
force  of  the  encounter,  that  he  will  necessarily  have 
with  that  sleepless  envy  which  is  galled  and  goaded 
to  desperation  by  the  prosperity  and  good  name  of 
others.  He  makes  no  deductions  for  the  nefarious 
work  of  the  busy  tongue  of  calumny  and  detraction. 


154  SERMON  VII. 

He  does  not  estimate  the  power  of  the  organized 
and    almost  omnipotent  jealousy  of  those  around 
him  at  his  growing  fame.     He  overlooks  the  fact 
too,  that  it  is  a  striking  feature  in  the  economy  of 
God's  providence  over  the  world,  that  the  greatest 
merit  is  often  permitted,  for  a  season  at  least,  to  be 
unappreciated,  and  the  purest  virtue  to  be  depressed, 
whilst  pretension  and  profligacy  are  prosperous  and 
triumphant.     He  forgets  also  that  he  is  in  the  midst 
of  conventional  forms,  where  heartless  compliment 
and  hypocritical  encomium  are  much  more  common 
than  sincere  praise.     Nor  does  he  take  into  account, 
the  extreme  caprice  and  unaccountable  versatility  of 
popular  opinion.     He  does  not  consider  that  society 
is  still  rife  with  that  same  wayward  and  fickle  spirit 
which  one  day  shouted  "Hosannah  to  the  Son  of 
David,"  and  the  next  day  cried  out  "Away  with 
him,  crucify  him,  crucify  him."     Each  man's  plans 
of  fame  are  formed  with  no  reference  to  these  un- 
toward facts.    They  embrace  and  provide  not  against 
any  of  these  disastrous  contingencies.     They  seem 
to  be  formed  on  the  assumption  that  the  individual 
himself  has  the  control  of  the  minds  and  hearts  and 
tongues  of  society,  and  with  more  than  the  adroit- 
ness of  the  rope-dancer  or  the  harlequin,  is  able  to 
ride  upon  the  quickly  shifting  wings  of  the  wind  of 
popular  opinion.     Hence,  to  the  man's  own  mind 
and  in  the  view  of  others  these  plans  have  a  ficti- 
tious magnificence.    His  anticipated  fame,  therefore, 
which  is  to  result  from  them,  is  empty  as  the  school- 
boy's dream,  and  baseless  as  castles  built  in  air.     It 
is  a  shadow  that  passes  over  the  plain  of  life,  and 
leaves  not  a  trace  behind.     No  man,  in  every  re- 


SERMON  VII.  155 

spect,  realizes  his  early  and  fond  hopes  of  fame. 
There  is  a  promise  held  out  to  him,  that  is  never 
fulfilled,  and  in  his  splendid  plans  and  calculations 
he  exhibits  an  appearance  to  the  world  which  is  in- 
trinsically hollow.  In  this  respect  "surely  every 
man  walketh  in  a  vain  show." 

This  is  equally  true,  as  regards  the  plans  of  men 
for  attaining  influence  and  power.  The  love  of 
power  is  one  of  the  strongest  passions  of  human  na- 
ture. Nor,  is  it  strange,  that  under  its  impulses 
men  should  form  the  most  exaggerated  and  even 
monstrous  plans  to  compass  an  object  so  eagerly  co- 
veted. These  plans, like  those  already  noticed,  over- 
look the  deductions  which  facts  in  the  past  experi- 
ence of  our  race  show  ought  to  be  made,  when  we 
estimate  the  degree  of  influence  or  power  which  any 
one  man  can  reasonably  expect  to  acquire  and  to 
exercise  over  his  fellow  men.  In  the  calculation, 
no  weight  is  given  to  the  number  of  notable  failures 
that  have  been  made  by  others  who  have  pursued  this 
object  in  circumstances  of  flattering  promise.  Nor, 
after  it  is  acquired,  is  there  a  just  estimate  of  the 
extremely  precarious  tenure  by  which  influence  and 
power  are  held.  At  best  it  is  as  a  thread  of  gossa- 
mer. 

The  history  of  the  world  is  replete  with  instances 
in  which  individuals  have  been  hurled  from  the 
summit  of  power,  and  their  sway  over  their  fellow 
beings,  lost  as  by  magic  in  a  moment  and  for  ever! 
Yet  each  generation,  untaught  and  unwarned  by  the 
experience  of  the  past,  la3^s  plans  and  counts  upon 
power  and  influence  as  though  no  obstacles  were  to 
be  encountered  by  any  one  in  commanding  and  con- 


156  SERMON  VII. 

trolling  the  mind,  and  the  heart  of  every  man  in 
the  entire  sphere  in  which  the  individual  moves. 
Each  one  forgets  that  his  neighbour  is  his  competi- 
tor in  the  pursuit  of  power,  loves  it  as  much  as  he 
does,  and  is  aiming  at  as  wide  a  sweep  of  influence 
as  he.  He  forgets  too  that  in  the  heart  of  every 
man  there  is  a  quick  and  keen  jealousy  of  power 
accumulating  any  where  except  in  each  one's  own 
hands.  All  these  things  areoverlooked, and  the  man's 
plans  seem  to  be  founded  on  the  assumption  that 
he  *'has  the  hearts  of  all  flesh  in  his  hand."  And 
it  would  require  this  assumption  to  he  true  in  order 
that  he  should  realize  all  that  his  plans  contemplate. 
Hence  they  have  an  appearance  to  himself,  and  to 
others  that  is  deceptive.  They  have  only  a  vague 
and  shadowy  grandeur.  Is  it  not  true  in  this  re- 
spect that  "every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show?" 

n.  The  assertion  of  our  text  is  verified  in  regard 
to  the  toorldly  hopes  which  every  man  cherishes. 
Man's  capacity  of  hope  is  an  original  endowment 
conferred  by  his  benevolent  Creator,  as  a  means  of 
happiness.  And  had  he  retained  his  primeval  in- 
nocence, this  capability  of  reaching  after  good  in 
an  interminable  future  would  have  still  been  neces- 
sary to  complete  the  resources  of  enjoyment  adapt- 
ed to  his  intellectual  and  moral  nature.  The  sup- 
position may  be  allowable,  that  even  a  holy  mind 
could  not  be  perfectly  happy  were  it  not  permitted 
to  look  beyond  the  measure  of  its  present  attain- 
ments and  joys  to  something  greater  and  better  in 
the  future.  And  as  God  has  destined  the  mind  to 
an  immortal  career  of  improvement,  hope  has  an 
unlimited  range,  and  may  bound  forward  over  a  fu- 


SEUMON   VII.  157 

turity  of  immoQSLirable  promise.  But  the  apostacy 
has  perverted  this  noble  capacit}^,  and  involved  it 
in  the  common  ruin  of  our  other  constitutional 
powers.  It  now  fixes  on  objects  forbidden,  or  un- 
attainable, and  thus  defeats  the  end  for  which  it  was 
originally  given.  From  the  extravagant  plans  of 
men,  exaggerated  hopes  will  result  as  an  inevitable 
consequence.  If  calculation  so  far  transcend  reali- 
ties, and  men  scheme  and  count  upon  so  much  that 
is  necessarily  beyond  their  reach,  hope  will  of  course 
take  a  still  wider  range.  Notwithstanding  this  is 
pre-eminently  a  world  of  disappointment,  and  the 
whole  track  of  past  ages  strown  with  the  wrecks  of 
human  hope,  yet  every  new  generation  is  as  buoy- 
ant as  though  no  blight  could  ever  come  over  the 
prospects  of  mortals.  On  a  careful  examination  of 
the  hopes  which  every  man  cherishes,  it  is  sur- 
prising to  find  how  far  they  transcend  all  that  he  is 
ever  destined  to  realize.  The  disproportion  is  so 
great,  as  to  inspire  a  peculiar  feeling  of  sadness,  as 
we  contemplate  its  result  on  the  individual's  happi- 
ness. To  the  ardent  mind  of  youth,  especially,  no 
clouds  seem  to  hang  over  the  future.  All  is  bright 
and  fair.  Joys  cluster  on  joys,  along  the  utmost 
verge  of  life's  horizon.  The  easy  assumption  is 
made  that  friends  will  always  be  true,  fame  will  not 
be  fickle,  time  will  fly  smoothly,  and  bring  on  the 
noiseless  wing  of  every  hour  some  new  enjoyment: 
prosperity,  accumulating  prosperity,  only  awaits 
them,  till  at  some  imaginary  point,  their  desires  and 
wishes  are  amply  fulfilled,  and  they  are  to  realize 
the  consummation  of  all  that  the  extravagance  of 

hope  has  ever  suggested!     Now,  niQ^n  ijiight  wajk 
14 


158  SERMON  VII. 

in  gorgeous  hopes  like  these,  were  earth  a  paradise, 
and  had  they  never  sinned,  were  there  no  adverse 
elements  at  work  to  blast  their  plans,  and  frustrate 
their  expectations.  But  in  the  world,  as  it  actual- 
ly is,  such  hopes  are  the  veriest  shadows.  In  a 
world  where  reverses  and  disappointments,  afflic- 
tions, bereavements,  and  death,  make  a  permanent 
part  of  the  system,  such  hopes  are  strikingly  incon- 
gruous. They  are  inconsistent  with  the  soberness 
of  truth,  and  the  teachings  of  reality,  and  seem  only 
as  phantoms  created  by  a  heated  imagination,  to 
tantalize  the  credulous,  confiding  heart.  They  bud 
only  to  be  blighted,  or  bloom  only  to  fade  and.  to 
die.  "Surely,"  in  respect  of  all  these  extravagant 
hopes,  "every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show." 

III.  This  is  true  as  regards  the  worldly  happi- 
ness of  men.  In  nothing,  perhaps,  are  men  gene- 
rally more  overrated  than  in  the  actual  sum  of  their 
temporal  happiness.  A  superficial  spectator,  un- 
taught by  experience  and  observation,  might,  in  view 
of  appearances,  very  naturally  conclude  that  the  great 
majority  of  mortals  were  quite  happy.  Happiness 
is  so  obviously  the  design  of  God  in  our  creation, 
and  the  love  and  desire  of  it  are  so  inwrought  with 
the  very  being  of  man,  that  most  persons  are  ashamed 
to  admit  that  they  are  not  happy.  Hence,  a  great 
portion  of  society  affect  enjoyments  which  they  are 
conscious  at  the  time  that  they  do  not  possess.  In 
this  matter,  a  deliberate  hypocrisy  is  practised. 
Many  a  smiling  face  stands  as  a  false  index  of  the 
heart,  and  the  sunshine  of  the  brow  contrasts  strange- 
ly with  the  cloud  and  storm  beneath.  There  is  "a 
vain  show"  of  joys  that  have  no  substance,  no  real 


SERMON  vir.  159 

existence.  In  this  respect,  almost  every  man  wears 
a  mask,  and  acts  an  assumed  and  feigned  character 
in  the  great  drama  of  life.  Beneath  the  fairy  light 
and  witching  smiles  on  the  surface  of  society,  are 
darkness  and  frowns,  and  bitter  tears,  and  corroding 
anguish  of  spirit,  an  entire  nether  world  of  concealed 
misery.  Hence,  as  regards  apparent  happiness,  it  is 
true  that  every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show. 

But  we  go  farther,  and  affirm  that  this  is  equally 
true  of  the  worldly  happiness  actually  enjoyed.  To 
the  casual  and  unreflective  observer,  this  happiness 
often  appears  to  be  without  alloy.  One  would  think, 
to  see  the  intoxicated  votaries  of  earthly  pleasure,  in 
some  of  their  favoured  moments,  that  no  deductions 
were  to  be  made  from  their  enjoyments.  For  the 
present,  at  least,  it  would  seem  as  though  their  ca- 
pacities for  bliss  were  satisfied  and  filled  to  over- 
flowing. But  this  is  not  the  fact,  it  is  a  vain  show. 
In  their  most  delighted  moments,  the  happiest  of 
mortals  are  conscious  that  it  is  not  all  sunshine,  with- 
out a  cloud.  Bitter  recollections  from  the  past  will 
sometimes  make  a  most  impertinent,  and  unwelcome 
visit  in  the  hour  of  their  purest  worldly  joy;  or  pain- 
ful forebodings  from  the  future,  will  throw  back  their 
shadows,  and  dim  and  sadden  the  brightest  scenes 
of  the  present.  No  mind  that  has  sinned  against  its 
God,  and  is  not  yet  redeemed  and  restored  to  the 
perfection  of  heaven,  can  have  one  hour  of/;?^re  un- 
alloyed happiness.  But  those  that  are  totally  alien- 
ated from  God,  and  on  whom  His  wrath  abides,  often 
seem  to  be  perfectly  happy,  and  are  pronounced  to 
be  so,  by  the  partiality  and  enthusiastic  admiration 
of  friends.     Yet  this  is  only  a  vain  show,  a  phantasm, 


let)  SERMON  VII. 

to^vhich  there  is  no  correspondinig  reality  in  the  som- 
ber history  of  fallen  human  nature.  Every  mfen  also 
walketh  in  a  vain  show  as  regards  the  promise  of 
his  continual  happiness  in  this  world.  Were  we 
to  take  our  data  from  the  happier  moments  of  world- 
ly men,  and  could  we  at  such  times  analyze  the  work- 
ings of  their  own  minds,  we  might  be  led  to  con- 
clude that  they  regarded  a  reverse  of  feeling  as  im- 
possible, and  expected  their  enjoyment  to  continue 
uninterrupted  till  the  close  of  life.  They  appear  as 
though  nothing  could  damp  or  depress  their  spirits, 
no  untoward  event  cast  a  shadow  on  the  bright  cur- 
rent of  life.  They  bless  themselves  in  their  hearts, 
and  assume  that  they  shall  not  only  live  many  days, 
but  "5ce  good  in  them  all."  To  the  captivated 
heart,  and  heated  imagination  of  the  votary  of  world- 
ly pleasure,  a  deceitful  promise  is  given  which  whis- 
pers that  these  present  joys  will  be  permanent,  and 
that  the  chances  of  escape  from  the  ills  of  this  dis- 
turbed and  marred  state  of  existence,  are  all  in  their 
favour.  Hence  there  is  a  confident  calculation,  an  in- 
tense expectancy  of  continued  happiness,  as  though 
no  curse  of  God  rested  on  our  race  for  its  apostacy, 
as  though  no  treachery  lurked  in  human  hearts  to 
sting  us  by  betrayal,  as  though  no  dissolution  of  the 
ties  of  friendship  and  of  love  could  create  an  aching 
void  in  our  bosoms,  as  though  there  were  no  reverses 
of  fortune,  no  poverty  and  want,  no  disaster  and 
calamity,  no  disappointments  and  bereavements,  no 
approaching  age  with  its  worn  out  capacities  and  its 
numerous  and  nameless  infirmities,  no  sickness  and 
death  to  put  a  period  to  the  purest  and  best  joys  that 
earth  can  give.     Surely  such  an  appearancp;  such  a 


SERMON  VII.  IGl 

promise  of  continued  and  uninterrupted*  happiness 
in  the  case  of  rebels  against  their  God,  in  a  world 
deranged  by  sin  and  riven  by  the  lightnings  of  an 
Almighty  curse,  must  be  false,  "a  vain  show."  It 
is  one  of  those  illusory  shadows  painted  on  the  can- 
vass of  this  present  scene,  only  to  cheat  the  eye  of 
the  careless  and  infatuated  beholder. 

IV.  Every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show,  in  re- 
spect to  tnost  of  the  miseries  of  the  present  life. 
This  proposition  is  not  to  be  understood  as  denying 
that  there  are  real  miseries  endured  in  the  present 
life.  In  our  deductions  from  the  apparent  and  actual 
happiness  of  men  under  the  preceding  head,  we  have 
assumed,  as  indisputable,  the  existence  of  numerous 
and  real  ills.  To  this,  as  a  truth,  the  past  experience 
and  present  consciousness  of  the  world  bear  witness. 
Indeed  a  world  of  sinners,  though  in  a  state  of  pro- 
bation and  of  mercy,  must  to  some  extent  be  a  world 
of  sufferers.  Vet  the  declaration  is  still  true,  that  in 
respect  to  many  of  the  miseries  of  the  present  life, 
^' every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show,  he  disquieteth 
liimself  in  vain.''  How  often  are  the  lives  of  per- 
sons imbittered  with  anxiety  and  corroding  cares 
ai)out  things  over  which  tlicy  have  not,  and  cannot 
have  any  control?  Yet  there  is  a  show  of  sorrow  and 
solicitude,  as  though  it  were  their  peculiar  allotment 
to  be  called  by  Providence  with  carefulness  and  tears 
to  busy  themselves,  and  watch  over  certain  train^s  of 
events,  just  as  though  those  trains  were  dependent 
for  their  course  on  their  will  and  wish,  and  could  be 
essentially  modified  by  their  anxieties  !  A  large  part 
of  the  bustle  and  vexation  of  society  falls  under  this 
calf^gory.     'J'hough  our  divine  Masler  has  positivelv 


162  SERMON  VII. 

forbidden  as  to  take  any  "thought  for  the  morrow/' 
or  to  agitate  the  question,  "what  shall  we  eat,  or 
what  shall  we  drink,  or  wherewithal   shall  we  be 
clothed,"  yet  every  man  w^alketh  in  a  vain  show  of 
perplexing  care,  in  reference  to  things  over  which  he 
has  no  more  control  than  he  has  over  hts  stature,  or 
the  contour  of  his  face.     Thus  a  large  class  of  the 
depressing  anxieties  of  life  is  wholly  gratuitous,  has 
no  real  foundation,  but  is  a  vain  show  of  mortal  mise- 
ry.    It  gives  a  false  impression,  and  impugns  the  be- 
nevolence of  God,  for  these  anxieties  imply  that  they 
are  the  necessary  means  of  altering  and  meliorating 
the  condition  of  things  to  which  they  refer,  whilst 
it  is  notoriously  true  that  they  have  no   influence 
whatever,  either  to  remove  or  to  mitigate  any  of  the 
real  ills  of  life.     God  has  kindly  warned  his  rational 
creatures  against  such  cares  as  utterly  fruitless,  and  if 
in  the  exercise  of  their  own  free  agency  they  will  in- 
dulge them,  then  divine  benevolence  is  not  responsi- 
ble for  the  resultant  misery.     Other  kinds  of  unhap- 
piness    also  are   equally  groundless.     What   a  vast 
sum  of  mortal  suffering  is  wholly  imaginary.    Each 
man  creates  a  part  of  his  own  wretchedness.     It  is 
the  legitimate  offspring  of  his  own  fancy.     What  a 
multitude  of  harassing  fears  and  painful  forebodings 
do  persons  indulge  respecting  evils  that  will  never 
overtake  them,  respecting  evils  which  have  no  exis- 
tence, except  amongst  the  creations  of  their  own  mor- 
bid or  undisciplined  imaginations,  the  shadowy  forms 
that  people  the  scenes  which  fancy  only  paints.  What 
disquietude,  tormenting  disquietude,  is  often  felt  in 
view  of  these  imaginary  ills  ?    What  fruitless  labours 
are  often  performed  in  reference  to  these  same  unreal 


SERMON  VII.  1G3 

things?  What  hours  of  watohfuhiess  and  painful  cau- 
tion arc  exercised,  to  avert  ills  which  will  never  oc- 
cur? What  gratuitous  impatience  and  peevishness 
are  felt  under  the  false  apprehension  of  these  fairy 
evils?  What  an  imposing  show  of  this  kind  of  mise- 
ry is  made  by  multitudes  of  mankind  ?  And  yet, 
like  a  part  of  their  happiness,  it  is  only  apparent,  not 
real:  it  is  a  vain  show,  and  constitutes  no  portion  of 
the  actual  and  inevitable  miseries  incident  to  our 
fallen  condition.  Thus  in  his  plans  and  hopes,  and 
joys  and  sorrows,  every  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show. 
He  disquieteth  himself  in  vain. 

V.  Lastly.  Every  man's  assumption  in  regard 
to  the  duration  of  his  present  life,  is  a  vain  show. 
A  careful  examination  of  his  earthly  plans,  hopes, 
happiness  and  misery  will  evince  that  they  are  all 
measured  by  a  scale  vastly  disproportionate  to  the 
actual  length  of  life  allotted  to  mortals.  He  projects 
enterprises  and  forms  plans  of  gain,  or  of  self-aggran- 
dizement that  make  a  vain  show  of  a  length  of  days, 
hardly  enjoyed  by  the  antediluvians.  Were  some 
intelligent  being  from  another  sphere,  unacquainted 
with  the  duration  of  human  life,  to  examine  these 
schemes,  and  man's  calculations  and  assumptions 
respecting  the  future,  he  would  naturally  infer  that 
our  mortal  existence  was  continued  at  least  through 
a  period  of  a  thousand  years.  JNIen  eagerly  grasp  at 
and  endeavour  to  obtain  means  of  enjoyment  which,  if 
acquired,  could  not  be  exhausted  by  them  in  a  period 
of  three  times,  or  in  some  cases,  ten  times  the  or- 
dinary duration  of  an  individual's  life.  Most  of  their 
calculations  in  reference  to  the  future  are  measured 
by  a    line    which   extends    far   beyond    the   '"'hands- 


1G4  SERMON  VII. 

breadth"  of  time  allotted  to  man  on  earth.  Their  an- 
ticipations of  various  enjoyments,  and  the  influence 
thus  exerted  on  their  conduct,  would  lead  one  to  sup- 
pose that  they  assumed  as  granted,  that  they  were  to 
have  almost  an  immortality  here  below.  Every 
thing  connected  with  their  present  lives,  is  unduly 
magnified,  and  hence  they  walk  in  a  vain  show  as 
regards  the  duration  of  life  itself.  From  an  abstract 
view  of  the  whole  career  of  mortals  in  the  present 
scene,  who  would  suppose  that  "  three-score  and  ten 
or  four-score  years,'^  was  the  utmost  limit  ordinarily 
of  our  earthly  existence  ?  In  all  their  thoughts,  emo- 
tions and  actions,  there  is  an  appearance,  a  show,  of  a 
much  longer  duration.  This  is  specially  illustrated 
in  their  procrastination  of  the  momentous  concerns 
of  the  soul,  their  prodigality  of  time  and  privileges, 
and  their  presumptuous  calculations  on  future  oppor- 
tunities. Multitudes  who  enjoy  the  gospel,  profess 
to  believe  all  its  disclosures  respecting  the  interests 
and  destinies  of  their  souls.  They  profess  a  belief 
too  in  the  doctrine  that  God  has  ordained  the  pre- 
sent, as  a  discipline  for  the  future  life,  and  that  if 
these  grave  eternal  interests  are  ever  secured,  it  must 
be  during  the  continuance  of  our  present  being;  nay, 
that  if  neglected,  the  forfeit  will  be  a  ruined  hn- 
7nortality  !  But  what  a  language  does  their  delay 
in  these  matters  speak!  Days  and  weeks,  and 
months  and  years  are  squandered  most  prodigally 
without  a  serious  thought  bestowed  on  the  concerns 
of  their  souls,  as  though  life  were  well  nigh  inexhaus- 
tible and  endless.  Indeed,  we  often  find  the  aged 
sinner,  whose  sands  are  almost  run,  as  thoughtless 
of  present  opportunities,  and  as  recklessly  presump- 


SERMON  VIT.  165 

tuous  in  liis  count  upon  the  future,  as  tliough  his  life 
had  just  commenced,  and  been  guarantied  for  a  cen- 
tury to  come.  In  this  respect  vvliat  a  show  of  long 
life  does  man's  conduct  exhibit.  Yet  assuredly  it  is 
a  "  vain  show."  The  truth  of  God  and  the  melan- 
choly experience,  and  observation  of  all  past  genera- 
tions are  not  to  be  hidden  by  this  shadow,  they  am- 
ply attest  how  transient  is  our  mortal  existence,  even 
as  the  tints  of  the  rainbow  or  the  fading  hues  of  eve- 
ning— "a  vapour  that  appearelh  for  a  little  while,  and 
then  vanisheth  away.'^ 

We  see  from  this  subject,  in  the  first  place,  how 
admirably  the  gospel  meets  the  wants  of  our  spiritual 
nature  by  revealing  a  'more  substantial  and  en- 
during life  than  the  present,  which  to  so  great  an 
extent  consists  in  a  vain  show.  With  some  quali- 
fication the  language  of  the  poet  is  true,  that 

"  This  world  is  all  a  fleeting  show, 
For  man's  illusion  given." 

To  every  one  the  hour  must  come,  too,  when  these 
illusions  of  the  present  life  will  be  broken  up,  when 
its  imposing  show  will  cease,  and  its  emptiness  be 
seen  and  felt  most  bitterl}-.  INIan  has  the  germ  of  a 
higher,  nobler  life,  than  the  present.  He  feels  the 
promptings  of  immortal  desires,  and  the  strugglings 
of  the  spiritual  element  within  him,  after  something 
more  substantial  and  appropriate  to  its  undying  na- 
ture, than  is  contained  within  the  compass  of  this 
mortal  existence.  Hence,  that  God  who  made  man, 
and  who  knows  what  is  in  him,  has  provided  for 
him,  and  revealed  an  eternal  life,  which  is  in  Clirist 
Jesus  his  Son.  This  life  is  all  substance,  all  pro- 
found  reality,  and,  directly  opposed    to    the   vain 


166  SERMON  VII. 

show  of  the  present:  it  "is  hid\s\ih.  Christ  in  God." 
It  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  a  secret  mys- 
terious principle  of  vitality,  that  is  to  make  its  full 
and  glorious  development  only  in  a  future  world. 

My  dear,  impenitent  hearers,  you  who  are  now 
walking  in  a  vain  show,  how  ought  you  to  welcome 
the  light  of  the  gospel,  which  discloses  life  and  im- 
mortality !  You  need  this  eternal  life.  You  need 
to  feel  all  its  blessed  functions  begin  in  your  souls 
now;  its  heavenly  peace — its  substantial  joys — its 
buoyant  hopes — its  blessed  promises  and  bright  anti- 
cipations, to  sustain  and  cheer  you  in  the  coming 
trials  of  this  sinful  state.  The  illusive  show  of  this 
present  existence  cannot  always  last.  Before  you 
are  aware,  it  will  vanish  and  leave  your  souls  de- 
serted, except  by  the  bitter  realities  which  regret 
and  remorse  collect  at  the  close,  as  the  sad  issues  of 
a  misspent  life.  Oh,  then,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life! 
This  is  the  great  gift  which  your  God  has  provided 
for  you,  and  which  he  urges  on  your  acceptance  im- 
mediately, without  another  moment's  delay.  May 
I  not  expostulate  with  you,  my  impenitent  hearers, 
and  endeavour,  in  all  the  earnestness  and  solemnity 
of  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  to  break  the  accursed 
spell  of  this  vain  show,  which  binds  you  in  so  fearful 
a  neglect  of  all  the  weighty  and  immortal  interests 
of  your  souls?  Oh,  what  means  this  your  strange 
negligence  of  God's  claims — of  your  own  highest 
happiness? — this  deliberate  rejection  of  Christ,  and 
the  eternal  life  which  he  offers  to  you?  How  long 
v.ill  you  continue  to  despise  your  mercies,  and  sin 
against  your  own  eternal  interests?  Will  you  any 
longer  "weary"  God  with  "the  greatness  of  the 


SERMON  VII.  1G7 

way"  of  your  procrastination?  Let  me  tenderly 
beseech  you — and  especially  the  young — to  accept 
the  offer  of  eternal  life  7iow  made  to  you.  Begin 
this  day  to  seek  the  Lord  with  all  your  hearts.  I 
conjure  you,  by  every  motive  that  heaven,  and  earth, 
and  hell  can  furnish,  not  to  leave  the  great  interests 
of  your  souls  in  jeopardy  another  hour.  Come  now, 
dying  sinner;  come  with  your  whole  soul,  in  ear- 
nest, and  enter  directly  upon  the  work  of  submitting 
to  God — of  repenting  of  your  sins — of  believing  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — of  laying  hold  on  eternal  life 
before  the  dream  of  your  present  life  be  past,  and  its 
vain  show  gone,  and  you  left  to  the  blankness  of 
everlasting  despair. 

My  dear  hearers,  you  are  hastening  to  scenes 
where  your  existence,  and  all  connected  with  it,  will 
no  longer  be  a  vain  show,  but  stern,  solemn  reali- 
ties. There  will  be  no  deceptive  appearance  or  hol- 
low form  about  your  last,  sad  farewell  of  earth.  Your 
"  pains,  and  groans,  and  dying  strife  "  will  be  real, 
and  will  have  a  depth  and  a  significancy  becoming 
the  tragic  occasion.  The  sorrows  and  anguish — the 
severing  ties — the  chilly  recoilings — the  breaking 
cords  of  the  heart  and  the  drowning  dismay  of  your 
parting  spirits,  and  all  the  troubled  agonies  of  your 
dissolution,  will  be  most  grave  and  momentous  re- 
alities! "The  great  white  throne,  and  Him  that 
sits  thereon — the  glory  of  His  Father  and  of  the 
holy  angels  " — your  account  of  the  deeds  done  in 
the  body  there  rendered — the  doom  then  awarded 
to  you,  and  the  allotment  on  which  you  shall  then 
enter,  will  have  no  vain  show;  they  will  be  ineffably 
sublime  realities.    Heaven,  in  its  noon  of  splendours 


168  SERMON  VII. 

and  its  pealing  hallelujahs — its  swell  of  triumph  and 
its  rapturous  joys,  is  no  shadowy  place;  it  is  a  divine 
reality.  Hell,  in  its  midnight  of  darkness  and  its 
hideous  howlings — its  immortal  defeat  and  despair — 
its  rage  and  revenge — its  nameless  torments  and  eter- 
nal horrors,  is  no  visionary  region;  it  is  the  most 
dire  of  all  realities  in  the  universe  of  God! 

My  dear,  impenitent  hearers,  you  stand  this  day 
close  on  the  verge  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  two 
future  and  fearful  worlds!  Your  deathless  souls 
will  very  soon  appear  in  their  real  character,  and  be 
fixed  beyond  reversion  in  the  life  of  love  and  bless- 
ing in  the  one,  or  in  that  of  malice  and  malediction 
in  the  other!  Which  life,  which  world  shall  be 
yours  through  that  eternity  that  gives  duration  to 
the  joys  of  the  one  and  to  the  woes  of  the  other? 


SERMON  VIII.  169 


SERMON   VIII. 


"And  bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 
—2  Cor.  x.  5. 

The  religion  of  the  cross  lays  a  broad  and  uncom- 
promising claim  to  the  obedience  of  man's  entire 
nature.  Unlike  all  the  systems  of  heathen  morality 
and  of  false  religion,  it  extends  its  province  over 
the  secrets  of  the  heart,  and  aims  to  purify  and  con- 
trol the  currents  of  hidden  thought.  The  most 
rigid  of  merely  human  schemes  have  never  made 
this  bold  and  difficult  attempt.  The  maxims  and 
precepts,  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  sanctions,  the 
entire  genius  of  all  such  schemes,  aims  only  at 
making  "the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter  clean,'' 
and  hence,  their  best  specimens  of  character  are 
only  as  "whited  sepulchres.'^  But  the  cardinal 
maxim  of  Christianity  is,  "  make  the  tree  good,  that 
its  fruit  may  be  good  also."  "  A  corrupt  tree  can- 
not bring  forth  good  fruit."  "Men  do  not  gather 
grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistles."  And  this  is 
in  exact  accordance  with  the  true  philosophy  of  our 
nature.  The  religion  of  the  gospel  commences  its 
process  of  transforming  human  character  in  the 
right  place.  Unlike  most  physical  changes  in  the 
world  around  us,  all  changes  for  the  better  in  man, 
begin  icithin,  in  the  deep  thoughts  of  the  soul,  and 
thence  work  outward,  and  manifest  themselves  in 
15 


170       '  SERMON  VIII. 

the  life  and  actions.  The  power  of  thought  is  the 
power  that  sways  man.  It  "turneth  him  whither- 
soever it  listeth,"  it  makes  him  what  he  is;  for  "  as 
a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.^'  Now, 
Christianity  recognises  this  as  a  fact  in  our  moral 
constitution,  and  mercifully  furnishes  us  means  for 
the  government  of  our  thoughts.  In  the  verses  pre- 
ceding the  text,  the  Apostle  speaks  of  these  means 
under  the  metaphor  of  weapons  of  warfare,  and  says 
they  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty  through  God.  And 
how  does  their  great  might  appear  ?  In  the  "  pull- 
ing down  of  strong  holds."  This  is  a  most  expres- 
sive metaphor  to  denote  their  power,  through  bod, 
to  remove  external  hinderances  to  our  salvation. 
But  can  these  w^eapons  effect  nothing  more? — if  not, 
then  for  the  largest  and  most  difficult  part  of  the 
warfare  there  is  no  adequate  provision.  What  is 
to  be  done  with  wayward  imaginations,  the  hidden 
thoughts  of  pride,  and  all  that  secret  world  of  spiri- 
tual activity  in  the  soul  ?  Paul  answers,  that  these 
weapons  are  not  only  mighty  through  God  to  the 
pulling  down  of  the  strong  holds,  but  adds,  "  Cast- 
ing down  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  that 
exalteth  itself  against  God,"  and,  as  the  climax  of 
their  power,  ^'bringing  every  thought  into  cap- 
tivity to  the  obedience  of  Christ.^'  It  is  obvious 
from  this  passage,  that  the  right  government  of  our 
thoughts  is  not  efifected  by  the  direct  or  arbitrary 
power  of  God.  Were  it  so,  then  the  language  here 
employed  would  involve  a  contradiction.  For  there 
is  a  "  warfare  "  and  "  weapons "  spoken  of  here, 
yet  surely  not  for  God,  but  for  us.  He  furnishes 
us  the  means  of  a  right  government  of  our  thoughts, 


SERMON  VIII.  171 

and  gives  them  their  efficiency.  But  we  in  the 
voluntary  exercise  of  our  own  powers  as  free  moral 
agents,  must  use  those  means.  It  is  we  who  by 
these  means,  and  through  God,  must  bring  into 
captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Clirist. 
From  these  words  I  propose,  then,  first,  to  in- 
quire what  is  implied  in,  or  what  constitutes  a  right 
government  of  the  thoughts;  and,  secondly,  to  pre- 
sent some  reasons  to  enforce  this  duty. 

According  to  this  plan,  we  are,  in  the  first  place, 
to  inquire  into  the  nature  of  this  duty,  and  ascertain, 
if  we  can,  what  is  implied  in  a  right  government  of 
the  thoughts. 

I.  It  implies  self-inspection,  or  the  noticing 
carefully  what  is  going  on  secretly  within  the 
mind. 

All  government  supposes  some  knowledge  of  the 
subjects  governed,  or  to  be  governed.  And  a  good 
government  is  one  which  is  suited  to  the  nature, 
which  meets  the  wants,  protects  the  rights,  pro- 
motes the  interests,  and  controls  the  activities  of  its 
subjects  for  the  highest  and  most  beneficent  ends. 
Such  a  government  pre-supposes,  and  is  founded  on 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  character 
of  its  subjects.  So  the  right  government  of  our 
thoughts  implies,  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite, 
that  habit  of  rigid  self-inspection,  that  careful  at- 
tention to  what  is  going  on  within  our  minds,  which 
will  enable  us  to  obtain  some  knowledge  of  the  na- 
ture and  character  of  our  thoughts.  This  habit  of 
closely  scrutinizing  the  secrets  of  the  soul,  is  by  no 
means  easily  acquired.  This  first  step  towards  the 
right  government  of  the  thoughts,  will  cost  you,  my 


17^  SERMON  viir. 

hearers,  a  painful  effort.  It  is  a  step,  I  fear,  yet  to 
BE  TAKEN  by  many  professors  of  religion.  It  is 
truly  astonishing  in  these  days,  to  notice  how  little 
reflection,  how  little  direct  effort  to  inspect  the 
multitude  of  their  secret  thoughts,  appears  to  be 
practised  by  some  of  those  who  have  professed  en- 
tire subjection  to  the  law  of  Christ.  This  is  an  age 
of  outward  shows,  when  even  the  gravest  books 
addressed  to  the  understanding,  the  reason,  and  the 
moral  sentiments,  must  have  their  '^pictorial  illus- 
trations,^^ appealing  to  the  eye  of  sense.  Whole 
classes  there  are  in  society  now,  whose  attention  is 
mainly  directed  outward  from  themselves,  and  can 
only  be  arrested  and  fixed  by  some  visible  or  pal- 
pable object.  Material  things,  substance,  or  sha- 
dows in  the  world  without  and  around  them,  engross 
and  monopolize  their  notice.  Attention  to  these 
things  at  present,  and  the  remembrance  of  similar 
things  in  the  past,  constitute  almost  the  entire  em- 
ployment of  their  minds.  And  yet  the  greatest 
number  of  such  objects  with  which  any  individual 
can  become  conversant,  will  furnish  the  materials 
for  a  small  part  only  of  the  innumerable  thoughts 
which  pass  through  his  mind,  and  that  part  the  most 
trivial  and  unimportant  to  him,  as  a  moral  and  im- 
mortal being.  Besides  the  attention  bestowed  on 
all  the  objects  of  sense  at  present,  and  the  remem- 
brance of  such  objects  in  the  past — besides  the  plans, 
calculations,  and  enterprises  of  life,  a  countless  mul- 
titude of  other  thoughts  flow  on  daily  in  a  deep 
under  current  of  the  mind.  The  announcement 
may  surprise  you,  my  hearers,  but  it  is  not  the  less 
a  well  authenticated  fact,  that  every  night  when  you 


SERMON  viir.  173 

retire  to  your  pillows,  you  have  utterly  forgotten  at 
least  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  thoughts 
that  have  passed  through  your  minds  during  the 
day  and  evening.  We  know  of  nothing  so  busy,  so 
pre-eminently  active,  so  surpassingly  rapid  in  its 
movements,  as  the  human  mind.  Each  day  it  cre- 
ates for  itself  a  little  world  of  secret  thoughts.  All 
the  attention  and  thoughts  necessary  to  the  most 
diligent  prosecution  of  our  ordinary  business,  are 
no  more,  compared  with  that  perpetual  fancy-work, 
that  deep  flow  of  secret  thought  running  beneath, 
than  the  few  passing  clouds  of  summer  that  float 
above  it,  are  to  the  broad  river  on  whose  bosom 
they  cast  their  momentary  shadows,  but  neither 
ruffle  its  surface,  nor  retard  its  onward  and  irre- 
sistible current.  Now,  we  put  the  question  to 
common  sense — how  is  that  individual  to  govern 
his  thoughts  who  neglects  even  to  notice  the  far 
greater  number  of  them  that  pass  through  his  mind 
daily?  How  would  a  governor  succeed  in  control- 
ling subjects,  two-thirds  of  whom  he  had  never 
thought  of,  knew  nothing  of  their  character,  and 
would  not  now  think  of  or  notice  ?  What  good  end 
could  his  administration  effect  for  them?  The  man 
who  would  govern  his  thoughts  aright,  must  fix  his 
attention  on  all  that  is  going  on  within  his  own 
mind.  He  must  exercise  a  close  discriminatino;  ob- 
scrvation  on  what  is  passing  tlierc,  wliich  will  ena- 
ble him  to  detect  the  most  secret  and  transient 
thoughts, and  to  discover  their  real  character.  When, 
by  this  habit  of  rigid  self-inspection,  he  has  gained 
a  knowledge  of  the  vast  number,  the  nature,  and 
tlie   character  of  liis  secret   thought>\,  he  will  then 


174  SERMON  viir. 

make  another  discovery  of  equal  importance  to  him 
in  attempting  to  govern  them,  and  that  is,  that  they 
are  rebelling  and  rebellious  subjects,  often  violating 
the  law  of  conscience  and  of  God.  They  are  wild 
outlaws  that  must  be  captured,  tamed,  and  taught 
subjection  by  the  dextrous  use  of  the  weapons  of 
Christian  warfare;  a  work  for  which  he  will  feel  that 
he  needs  to  be  girded  with  the  strength  of  the  Lord 
of  Hosts.  We  insist,  then,  that  in  order  to  the 
right  government  of  the  thoughts,  the  man  must 
know  himself,  must  fix  his  attention  on  what  is  pass- 
ing within  him,  must  closely  watch  the  busy  work- 
ings of  his  own  mind.  If  he  would  successfully 
master  and  rule  over  his  own  spirit,  the  highest 
mastery  and  rule  experienced  this  side  heaven,  he 
must  understand  the  active  powers  of  that  spirit, 
and  know  that  in  its  very  nature  it  is  essentially  a 
thinking  being,  and  that  the  capacity  of  thought  is 
what  gives  it  importance  and  distinction  in  the 
scale  of  intelligent  existence. 

II.  A  second  thing  implied  in  the  duty  of  go- 
verning the  thoughts,  is  to  -endeavour  to  ascertain 
THE  CAUSES  that  cxcitc  the  various  trains  of 
thought  in  the  mind.  We  must  not  only  notice 
and  know  what  is  passing  within  us,  but  it  is  of  vital 
importance  also  to  ascertain  and  understand  the 
causes  that  excite  our  trains  of  thought.  If  the  phy- 
sician does  not  discover  and  understand  the  imme- 
diate exciting  cause  of  disease,  how  can  he  intelli- 
gently prescribe  or  perform  a  cure  ?  And  if  we  will 
not  reflect  and  examine  ourselves,  and  make  an  effort 
to  ascertain  and  understand  the  causes  that  excite 
our  trains  of  thought — if  we  remain  wholly  ignorant 


SERMON  VIII.  175 

of  the  way  In  which  thoughts  arise  in  the  mind,  and 
of  what  influences  to  one  kind  of  thoughts  or  another, 
how  is  it  possible  for  us  to  engage  intelligently  in 
the  solemn  imperious  duty  of  '^  bringing  every 
thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ?" 
If  thoughts  do  not  arise  arbitrarily  or  by  chance — 
if  there  are  causes  both  without  and  within  the  mind 
itself  that  excite  trains  of  thought  and  influence  their 
currents,  then  it  is  an  obvious  suggestion  of  common 
sense  that  we  should  know  and  understand  those 
causes,  if  we  would  successfully  govern  our  thoughts. 
And  yet,  amongst  the  multitude  of  professors  of  re- 
ligion at  present,  how  many  may  we  suppose  are 
seriously  engaged  each  day  in  watching  the  work- 
ings of  their  own  minds,  striving  in  the  fear  of  God, 
and  as  for  the  life  of  their  souls,  to  find  out  those 
causes  that  excite  and  influence  their  thoughts,  in 
order  that  they  may  direct  their  efibrts  there  to  mo- 
dify and  control  the  very  source  and  origin  of 
thinking  ?  Without  this,  a  proper  government  of 
the  thoughts  is  impossible.  For  when  thoughts  are 
once  ill  the  mind,  they  cannot  be  banished  by  a 
wish  or  by  a  mere  act  of  the  will.  The  very  at- 
tempt directly  to  will  them  out  of  the  mind  would 
keep  them  there; — for  in  order  that  any  thing  should 
be  the  object  of  volition,  it  must  be  present  to  the 
mind,  or,  in  other  words,  we  must  think  of  it.  A 
great,  if  not  the  most  important  part  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  thoughts,  consists  in  efibrts  at  preven- 
tion, which  is  always  better  than  cure.  Now,  in 
order  to  prevent  any  thing  from  taking  place  either 
in  the  series  of  our  thoughts  or  of  events  in  the 
world  around  us,  we  must  know  and  remove  the 


176  SERMON  viir. 

cause  or  causes  adapted  to  produce  it.  I  may  en- 
counter the  charge  here  of  preaching  metaphysics, 
and  of  wishing  to  make  my  hearers  mental  philoso- 
phers, and  of  putting  them  on  the  vain  effort  to  un- 
derstand the  laws  of  mind  by  which  our  trains  of 
thought  are  regulated.  This  would  be  to  make  them 
metaphysicians.  One  thing  I  would  to  God  I  could 
make  all  my  dear  hearers — that  is,  intelligent,  think- 
ing, consistent  disciples  of  that  holy  Jesus,  who,  on 
one  occasion,  taught  the  Jews  that  they  could  com- 
mit a  most  criminal  act  in  their  secret  thoughts,  the 
exciting  cause  of  which  was  the  use  which  they 
made  of  the  outward  bodily  eye!  All  persons,  I 
am  aware,  cannot  become  subtle  metaphysicians,  and 
understand  the  intricate  and  mysterious  laws  and 
susceptibilities  of  mind.  But  all  Christians  may 
and  ought,  by  the  help  of  God,  in  the  use  of  appro- 
priate means,  to  discover  and  understand  the  prin- 
cipal causes  that  excite  and  influence  their  thoughts 
in  a  right  or  wrong  direction.  If  they  cannot,  then 
it  is  certain  that  they  can  never  govern  their 
thoughts,  and  the  "weapons"  which  God  has  fur- 
nished as  a  part  of  his  whole  armour  to  bring  them 
"  into  captivity,"  are  superfluous.  Who  is  prepared 
to  make  such  an  admission  ?  No;  let  the  most  plain, 
unlettered  Christian,  in  a  docile  spirit,  conscien- 
tiously set  about  the  work  of  "keeping  his  own 
heart  with  all  diligence  "  watching,  guarding  his 
thoughts  under  the  conviction  that  God  sees  them 
all — let  him  keep  a  vigilant  eye  on  his  trains  of 
thought,  tracing  them  back  and  trying  to  ascertain 
how  they  first  came  into  his  mind,  and  he  will  soon 
become   acquainted   with   the   causes   that   excited 


SERMON  VIII.  177 

them.  It  will  require  no  metaphysical  acumen  for 
one  to  discover  that  companionship  is  an  exciting 
cause  of  trains  of  thought: — that  the  language,  the 
manners,  tlie  spirit,  the  entire  character  of  those 
with  whom  he  associates,  not  only  influence  his 
mind  whilst  he  is  with  them,  but  prove  ccmses  of 
awakening  trains  of  thought  long  after  he  is  sepa- 
rated from  them.  The  same  is  true  in  reference  to 
the  course  of  i^eading  he  pursues.  Books,  as  well 
as  companions,  may  become  powerful  and  all-con- 
trolling causes  in  exciting  and  directing  the  current 
of  our  thoughts.  What  long  trains  of  musing — 
what  criminal  imaginings, — what  wild  and  lawless 
thinking  is  produced  in  the  mind  of  the  wretched 
novel  reader,  long  after  he  has  perused  and  thrown 
aside  the  favourite  volume.  It  requires  no  profound 
knowledge  of  mental  philosophy  to  ascertain  and 
understand  this.  Certain  places,  too,  become  the 
exciting  causes  of  trains  of  thought.  Let  a  man  visit 
the  theatre  and  the  ball-room,  to  say  nothing  of  their 
affiliated  localities  and  indulgences,  and  long  after 
the  tragedy  or  comedy  is  over,  and  the  curtain  dropt 
in  the  one,  and  the  music  has  been  hushed  and  the 
dance  ceased  in  the  other,  the  sight  or  even  the  re- 
membrance of  those  places  will  put  in  motion  again 
those  waves  of  tumultuous  thought  and  high-wrought 
emotion  that  were  originally  excited  there.  The 
plainest  mind  can  assuredly  be  made  to  understand 
this.  Nor  will  it  require  much  effort  for  any  one 
to  learn  also  that  the  state  of  the  affections, — the 
prevailing  temper  of  the  heart, — greatly  influences 
our  habits  of  thinking.  Its  tastes  and  preferences, 
its  likes  and  dislikes,  its  governing  purpose  will  not 


178  SERMON  VIII. 

only  excite  trains  of  thought,  but  give  character  and 
direction  to  them  at  will.  And  may  not  a  Christian 
of  the  most  common  capacity  readily  discover  that 
all  our  bodily  senses  may  be  so  used  as  to  prove 
the  occasions,  if  not  the  exciting  causes,  of  right  or 
wrong  trains  of  thought  in  the  mind.  The  eye  may 
be  fixed  on  sights,  the  ear  opened  to  sounds,  the  pa- 
late addressed  by  tastes,  the  scent  with  artful  odours, 
and  the  touch  with  soft  blandishments,  which  will 
lay  the  foundation  for  long  trains  of  thought,  after 
the  impression  on  these  outward  senses  has  been  ob- 
literated. Yea,  the  bodily  state  itself — the  mere 
condition  of  the  vital  functions — often  proves  the 
exciting  cause  of  certain  trains  of  thought.  In  proof 
of  this,  you  have  only  to  notice  the  facts  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  pampered,  luxurious  sensualist.  In  con- 
tact with  one  of  these  creatures  once,  on  board  a 
packet  ship,  and  though  he  was  an  educated,  profes- 
sional man,  I  was  forced  to  observe  that  his  princi- 
pal conversation,  for  seven  days  in  succession,  was 
on  the  subject  of  the  good  fare — the  fine  eating — 
that  could  be  obtained  in  hotels  in  different  parts  of 
the  United  States  !  It  is  easy  to  understand  what 
was  the  exciting  cause  of  this  train  of  thought  in  his 
mind — the  influence  of  a  certain  state  of  the  body, 
or  of  certain  corporeal  impressions.  Now,  without 
a  knowledge  of  their  various  exciting  causes,  how  is 
any  man  to  govern  his  thoughts  ?  How  can  he  em- 
ploy means  or  use  "  weapons  "  adapted  to  this  end  ? 
How  can  you  cut  ofTand  dry  up  streams,  if  you  leave 
their  fountain  heads  untouched  and  overflowing? 

III.  Another  thing  now  obviously  included  in 
governing  our  thoughts  is — a  constant  watchful- 


SERMON  VIII.  179 

ness  to  avoid  or  remove  those  causes  that  excite 
improper  and  sinful  trains  of  thought. 

When  an  individual  has  reflected  on  and  exa- 
mined the  operations  of  his  own  mind,  suiTiciently  to 
ascertain  hoiv  it  is  that  certain  currents  of  tliought 
flow  on  there — when  he  understands  the  exciting 
causes  of  his  thoughts,  he  must  needs  make  tlic  dis- 
covery that  there  are  some  causes  that  originate 
only  improper  and  sinful  W\ou^-\\.s — causes  that  ex- 
cite thoughts  which  rebel  against  conscience,  and 
are  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  and  the  precepts  of 
the  Gospel.  Now  the  least  that  can  be  included  in 
the  right  government  of  the  thoughts,  is  a  constant 
watchfulness  to  avoid  or  remove  these  causes.  To 
wait  till  trains  of  improper  thoughts  are  actually  in 
the  mind,  and  for  the  first  to  join  battle  with  them 
there,  is,  to  say  the  least,  running  an  imminent  risk  of 
being  defeated  in  the  struggle.  It  is  like  waiting 
till  the  foe  is  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  nay,  in 
the  very  citadel,  before  we  attack  and  attempt  to 
repulse  him.  One  of  the  methods  of  successful  de- 
fence in  literal  warfare,  is  to  prevent  by  ditches  and 
embankments  the  approach  and  entrance  of  the 
enemy.  And,  as  I  have  already  incidentally  re- 
marked, one  of  the  greatest  facilities  of  governing 
the  thoughts  is  the  art  of  prevention.  It  is  a 
law  of  the  mind,  that  a  wrong  thought  permitted  to 
enter  and  lodge  once,  lays  a  foundation  for  its  re- 
currence, and  for  a  more  easy  entrance  and  lodge- 
ment there  a  second  time.  Besides,  avoiding  the 
exciting  causes  of  wrong  trains  of  thought,  is  the 
only  way  by  which  we  can  avoid  establishing  those 
habits  of  association  or  suggestion  of  thought  that 


180  SERMON  VIII. 

will,  from  their  very  nature, bring  improper  thoughts 
into  the  mind.  I  think  this  can  be  made  obvious 
to  those  of  you  who  have  never  studied  mental  phi- 
losophy. As  an  illustration,  plain  and  coarse  in- 
deed, let  me  ask  why  it  is  that  even  at  a  distance 
the  very  sight  of  the  sign-post  of  the  tavern  or  dram- 
shop will  bring  into  the  mind  of  the  drunkard 
thoughts  of  the  pleasures  of  indulgence  in  his  beastly 
vice — thoughts  of  the  merriment,  of  the  companion- 
ship and  carousals  of  the  bar-room,  till  his  whole 
mind  is  filled  with  the  riotous  scene,  and  he  is  fired 
with  the  unconquerable  thirst  for  strong  drink? 
The  answer  is  obvious;  he  has  established  associa- 
tions hy  going  there  and  indulging  his  appetite — by 
not  avoiding  it, — and  now  the  sight  of  that  place, 
by  an  irresistible  law  of  his  mind,  must  and  will 
bring  with  it  this  abominable  train  of  thought. 
This  is  what  we  mean  by  the  great  law  of  associa- 
tion or  suggestion  of  thought.  To  illustrate  this 
farther,  let  me  ask  why  it  is  that,  to  the  man  who 
has  always  avoided  the  place  of  the  drunkard's  re- 
sort, and  refused  the  bewitching  bowl,  the  sight  of 
the  very  same  sign-post  of  a  tavern  or  dram-shop 
will  awaken  a  wholly  opposite  train  of  thought? 
It  fills  his  mind  with  revolting — associates  the  cri- 
minal mirth  and  revelry — the  disgusting  orgies  of 
drunkenness — the  wrecks  of  property  and  reputa- 
tion— the  crime  and  misery, — the  desolation  and 
death  that  are  enacted  there,  and  he  is  filled  with 
benevolent  regret  and  sorrow.  Now  this  is  the  law 
of  association  or  suggestion  of  thought  too, — but  of 
right  thought  in  this  case.  How  then  does  this 
man  establish  these  associations  so  totally  different 


SERMON  viir.  181 

from  those  just  considered?  Simply  by  avoiding 
that  place  and  its  accursed  indulgences  as  an  ex- 
citing cause  of  ?dJrono- trains  of  thought,  and  as  the 
spot  where  habits  of  associating  such  thoughts  are 
formed.  The  habit,  then,  of  association  or  sugges- 
tion of  right  or  wrong  trains  of  thought  takes  its 
rise — begins  with  the  exciting  causes  of  those 
thoughts.  Let  no  one,  therefore,  deceive  himself 
with  the  vain  hope  that  he  can  ever  prevent  the  oc- 
currence and  lodgement  of  improper  thoughts  in 
his  mind  unless  with  eagle  eye  he  watches  and 
AVOIDS  their  exciting  causes.  No  small  part  of  the 
principal  self-denial  and  watchfulness  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  has  enjoined  on  his  disciples  has  refer- 
ence to  this  very  point.  Happy  is  the  man  who 
with  a  divine  earnestness  and  sleepless  vigilance 
avoids  all  known  exciting  causes  of  improper  and 
sinful  thoughts. 

lY.  Alike  obviously  included  in  the  right  govern- 
ment of  our  thoughts  is — a  constant  watchfulness 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  influence  of  those  causes 
that  excite  proper  and  holy  trains  of  thought. 
A  good  government  over  our  wayward  and  rebel- 
lious thoughts,  as  already  intimated,  cannot  be  esta- 
blished by  an  idle  wish  or  a  mere  arbitrary  act  of 
the  will.  We  must  ivisely  adopt  and  watchfully 
apply  the  means  suited  to  secure  this  end.  There 
are  "weapons"  to  be  used,  if  we  would  ever  bring 
our  thoughts  "into  captivity."  We  may  not  ex- 
pect good  trains  of  tliought  to  occupy  the  mind  by 
chance^  or  that  bad  ones  will  remain  out  of  it  on  the 
same  condition.  We  must  go  back  and  keep  an  ob- 
servant, discriminating  eye  on  those  causes  that  ex- 
16 


183  SEBMON  VIII. 

cite  holy  trains  of  thought  and  avail  ourselves  of 
their  influence,  according  to  those  laws  that  regulate 
our  thinking.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  navigate 
a  large  ship,  and  "  turn  it  whithersoever  the  governor 
Jlisteth,"  by  the  use  of  sails  and  a  helm,  because  in 
that  case  you  fall  in  with  and  take  advantage  of  cer- 
tain natural  laws  that  pertain  to  the  atmosphere  and 
the  water.  So,  by  divine  help,  the  thoughts  can  be 
well  governed,  if  you  begin  aright,  avail  yourself  of 
the  operation  of  appropriate  causes,  and  fall  in  with 
the  laws  by  which  thought  is  to  be  controlled.  The 
man  who  sets  himself  about  this  work  in  this  way 
will  soon  discover  what  causes  excite  proper  trains 
of  thought,  and  by  the  influence  of  which  he  may 
be  materially  aided  in  ruling  over  his  own  busy, 
thinking  spirit.  He  will  find  that  holy  companion- 
ship is  an  exciting  cause  of  holy  thoughts,  just  as 
wicked  companionship  is  the  opposite.  The  senti- 
ments, the  language,  the  communion  of  saints — their 
manners,  character  and  pious  spirit,  will  not  only  in- 
fluence his  mind  while  in  contact  with  them,  but 
will  also  lay  the  foundation  of  long  and  profitable 
trains  of  thought,  after  he  is  parted  from  their  so- 
ciety, even  by  intervening  oceans  and  continents. 
The  man,  then,  who  would  be  successful  in  govern- 
ing his  thoughts,  will  avail  himself  of  the  operation 
of  this  cause,  and  be  very  careful  whom  he  selects 
as  companions,  and  how  he  spends  his  social  hours. 
He  will  discover  too,  that  the  perusal  of  pious 
authors  as  well  as  the  right  kind  of  society,  proves 
an  exciting  cause  of  proper  trains  of  thought.  To 
the  man  who  would  succeed  in  governing  well  his 
own  thoughts,  his  selection  and  familiarity  with 


SERMON  viir.  183 

authors,  is  a  matter  of  unspeakable  moment.  In 
their  influence  on  the  mind,  for  good  or  for  evil, 
books  have  one  advantage,  even  over  conversation 
and  companionship.  They  are  our  companions  in 
solitude,  when  impressions  made  on  the  mind  are 
always  deepest,  because  there  is  no  fear  that  the 
book  will  suspect,  as  a  living  companion  might,  from 
the  expression  of  the  countenance,  what  is  going  on 
within,  and,  therefore,  the  mind  of  the  reader  yields 
itself  moreundividedly to theentire impression.  How 
many  awakened  sinners  have  wept  and  groaned  in 
agony,  when  reading  "  Baxter's  Call,"  or  "  Alleine's 
Alarm,"  in  secret,  who  would  have  braced  them- 
selves up  on  the  defensive,  and  had  no  such  depth 
and  intensity  of  thought  and  feeling,  had  the  very 
same  thoughts  been  addressed  to  them  in  conver- 
sation by  pious  companions.  And  how  many  a 
modern  belle,  shut  up  in  her  own  room,  with  the 
curtains  of  midnight  drawn  around  her,  has  read  pa- 
ragraphs of  novels,  no  approach  to  which  would 
dare  be  uttered  in  her  presence  by  the  living  voice, 
and  which  have  excited  deep  and  agitating  trains  of 
thought  that  she  would  fear  to  entertain  for  a  mo- 
ment, wxre  her  countenance  subjected  to  the  inspec- 
tion of  others.  Now,  this  is  what  gives  to  books 
so  decisive  and  controlling  a  power  over  the  current 
of  our  thoughts.  They  have  the  advantage  of  ope- 
rating in  silence  and  solitude,  when  the  mind  is 
least  distracted,  and  most  unsuspecting  and  open  to 
impressions.  The  man,  then,  who  would  govern 
his  thoughts  aright,  must  exercise  great  caution  and 
wisdom  in  his  course  of  reading,  and  avail  himself 
of  the  best  books  as  powerful  exciting  causes  of  vir- 


184  SERMON  viir. 

tuous  trains  of  thought.  What  currents  of  deep  and 
holy  thought,  what  a  gush  of  pious  and  exalted  emo- 
tion have  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of  Reli- 
gion in  the  Soul,  Baxter's  Saints'  Everlasting  Rest, 
Howe's  Blessedness  of  the  Righteous,  Payson's  Me- 
moirs, and  similar  books,  excited  in  the  mind,  and 
impelled  with  a  widening  and  majestic  flow  long 
after  these  volumes  have  been  perused  and  laid 
aside!  And  what  shall  we  say  of  that  book  of 
books,  the  Bible?  God^s  book  to  man,  speaking 
in  man's  own  language  to  his  inmost  soul — proving 
a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart 
— suited  to  every  peculiarity  in  the  constitution  of 
the  human  mind — a  universal  language  or  gram- 
mar of  thought,  like  the  sky,  and  sun,  and  stars, 
whose  "line  is  gone  out  into  all  the  earth,  and  their 
words  to  the  ends  of  the  world!"  This  is  pre-emi- 
nently the  great  master  exciting  cause  of  right 
trains  of  thought.  The  infinite  perfections  of  Je- 
hovah which  it  reveals — the  doctrine  of  his  omni- 
science and  omnipresence — his  scheme  of  provi- 
dence and  his  stupendous  plan  of  love  and  mercy 
through  Christ  Jesus — the  wonders  and  glories,  the 
infinite  sorrows,  and  the  immortal  triumphs  of  the 
cross — the  rules  of  man's  action,  with  their  eternal 
sanctions — the  hell  that  he  is  to  avoid,  and  the  hea- 
ven he  is  to  win — the  spiritual  struggles  and  throes 
— the  sublime  conflict  and  agony  that  this  will  in- 
volve, and  the  splendid  rewards  of  victory — these 
are  some  of  the  exciting  themes  of  thought  con- 
tained in  the  Bible!  In  a^ressing  the  taste  or  ima- 
gination, what  sun-lit  scenery,  what  forms  of  uni- 
versal beauty  and  of  deep  repose  does  the  Bible 


SERMON  vrir.  185 

picture  in  the  landscape  of  the  celestial  world!  To 
the  capacity  of  boundless  hope  in  man  what  "dura- 
ble riches  and  righteousness" — what  an  incorrupti- 
ble inheritance — what  an  unfading  crown  and  impe- 
rishable kingdom  "eternal  in  the  heavens"  does 
the  Bible  disclose!  This  blessed  book,  from  the 
very  nature  of  its  grave  and  august  revelations,  must 
ever  exert  a  commanding  influence  over  all  the  moral 
susceptibilities  of  the  mind,  and  give  character  and 
direction  to  the  currents  of  its  thoughts.  The  dili- 
gent, humble,  prayerful  student  of  the  Bible  will 
find  that,  by  its  aid,  the  great  and  difficult  work  of 
governing  his  thoughts  can  be  effected.  It  may 
be  remarked,  in  this  connexion,  that  the  habit  of 
committing  to  memory  a  verse  or  two  of  scripture 
every  morning,  as  a  means  of  influencing  our  trains 
of  thought  through  the  day,  cannot  be  too  highly 
commended.  A  portion  of  the  holy  oracles  thus 
treasured  in  the  mind  will  not  only  give  direction 
to  the  current  of  our  thoughts  during  that  single 
day  on  which  it  is  committed,  but  will  prove  the 
prolific  seed  of  thoughts  in  many  subsequent  years 
of  life.  The  speaker  can  now  recall  distinctly,  after 
the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  the  verses  of  the  scrip- 
tures which  he  committed  to  memory  on  this  plan. 
The  power  of  association  even  recalls  the  very  sun- 
shine and  dews,  the  flowers  and  balmy  air  of  the 
beautiful  morning  of  a  long-gone  spring,  when  he 
committed  the  following  text,  never  since  forgot- 
ten:— "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every  2^l<^ce, 
beholding  the  evil  and  the  good.^^  The  duty  that 
we  are  now  explaining  imperiously  requires  a  daily, 
prayerful  perusal  of  the  Bible,  as  the  great  exciting 
16* 


1S6  SERMON  VIII. 

cause  of  tight  trains  of  thought,  and  as  an  indispen- 
sable means  of  successful  rule  over  our  spirits. 

But  certain  places  also  are  exciting  causes  of 
right  as  well  as  of  wrong  trains  of  thought.  To  the 
man  who  devoutly  attends  them,  the  sanctuary  and 
the  more  familiar  places  of  social  worship,  excite 
many  a  sweet  remembrance,  many  a  long,  pleasing, 
profitable  train  of  thought  after  the  voice  of  prayer 
and  praise  has  ceased  there — the  holy  services  and 
solemnities  have  ended,  and  he  is  again  engaged  in 
the  ordinary  occupations  of  life.  A  diligent,  punc- 
tual, and  devout  attendance  on  all  the  ordinances  and 
observances  of  religion,  will  furnish  a  multitude  of 
facilities  for  the  government  of  the  thoughts,  whilst 
an  irregular  attendance  or  a  neglect  of  many  of 
these  ordinances  will  ensure  a  worldly  mind  whose 
occasional  struggles  at  self-government  must  neces- 
sarily prove  unsuccessful. 

Certain  seasons  too  are  the  exciting  causes  of 
proper  trains  of  thought.  When  a  man  has  learned 
to  keep  the  Sabbath  holy — when  he  has  estab- 
lished and  carefully  observed  definite  hours  for  se- 
cret prayer  and  meditation,  the  recurrence  of  these 
periods  by  a  law  of  his  mind  will  awaken  solemn 
and  delightful  associations.  Many  a  Christian  in 
the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  noisy  passengers  in  a  public 
conveyance,  at  the  approach  of  the  particular  hour 
of  the  morning  or  the  evening,  which  at  home  he  is 
accustomed  to  spend  in  secret  devotion,  finds  his 
mind  sweetly  turned  to  thoughts  of  God  and  divine 
things,  and,  amidst  all  the  external  confusion,  actu- 
ally engages  in  silent,  ejaculatory  prayer.  The  man 
who  would  successfully  govern  his  thoughts,  must 


SERMON   VIII.  1S7 

not  only  avail  himself  of  the  Sabbath,  which  recurs 
once  in  seven  days,  but  he  must  establish  and  ob- 
serve definite  hours  in  every  day  for  his  secret  de- 
votion, whose  recurrence  shall  prove  powerful,  ex- 
citing causes  of  right  trains  of  thought. 

It  may  be  added  here  that  certain  actions,  also, 
while  they  spring  from  right  thought,  wijl,  in  turn, 
prove  the  fruitful  sources  of  profitable  thinking. 
Your  visits  of  mercy  to  the  abodes  of  poverty — to 
the  chamber  of  sickness  and  the  bed  of  death — your 
sympathies,  prayers,  and  aid  there — your  efforts  to 
promote  the  edification  of  Christian  brethren,  and 
to  convert  the  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way — 
your  liberal  contributions  to  sustain  the  gospel  at 
home  and  send  it  to  the  destitute  abroad,  are  acts 
in  their  very  nature  adapted  to  become  the  exciting 
causes  of  numerous  happy  trains  of  thought  long 
after  you  shall  have  performed  them.  Will  not 
memory  revisit  those  hovels  of  distress,  recall  the 
picture  of  their  want  and  desolation,  awaken  your 
sympathies,  and  prompt  your  prayers  in  behalf  of 
their  still  surviving  tenants?  Will  you  not  think 
again  of  that  Christian  brother  whom  you  have 
exhorted  and  warned,  and  pray  anew  that  your  ef- 
fort for  his  benefit  may  be  successful?  Will  not 
the  perishing  sinner,  whom  you  plead  with  to  be 
reconciled  to  God,  claim  many  a  thought,  many  a 
prayer  after  your  first,  and,  it  may  be,  your  only 
interview  with  him?  And  will  not  hope,  prayer, 
and  expectation  follow  your  liberal  contributions  to 
spread  the  gospel,  long  after  your  offering  has  been 
made  to  the  treasury  of  the  Lord  ?  Be  assured,  my 
dear  hearers,  that  one  of  the  greatest  facilities  of  go- 


188  SERMON  VHI. 

verning  the  thoughts  is  to  he  constantly  employed 
in  beneficent  action.  Every  right  act  will  not  only 
constitute  in  the  mind  a  starting,  but  a  multiply- 
ing point  of  right  trains  of  thought.  In  this  con- 
nexion, also,  and  of  vital  importance  in  the  govern- 
ment of  our  thoughts,  let  me  warn  you  against 
sloth  diVidt. '  indolence.  Beware  of  those  hours  in 
which  you  propose  nothing  definite  to  be  thought 
of  or  to  be  done.  Your  mind,  in  its  very  nature,  is 
essentially  active.  If,  then,  you  have  intervals  in 
which  you  are  neither  watching  against  the  exciting 
causes  of  improper  thought,  nor  availing  yourself  of 
the  means  of  right  and  profitable  mental  activity — 
in  which  you  are  neither  guarding  the  exercise  of 
your  bodily  senses,  nor  aiming  in  any  way  to  fur- 
nish your  mind  with  some  definite  and  proper  em- 
ployment— rest  assured  that,  in  such  Intervals,  your 
busy  powers  will  have  employment:  but  it  may  be 
just  of  such  a  kind  as  "  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil"  will  delight  to  furnish!  There  is  a  deep 
significancy,  attested  by  the  bitter  experience  of 
thousands.  In  that  quaint  saying  that  "  an  empty 
brain  is  the  deviVs  work-shop^''  and  that  he  always 
finds  something  for  idle  hands  to  do. 

V.  The  right  government  of  our  thoughts  im- 
plies that  we  aim  at  universality  in  this  matter; 
at  the  government  of  all  our  thoughts.  That 
would  be  a  badly  governed  province  where  any 
number  of  the  subjects,  even  the  most  remote,  ob- 
scure, and  apparently  worthless,  were  permitted  to 
live  in  anarchy,  violate  the  laws,  and  rebel  against 
the  constituted  authorities  with  impunity.  An  ad- 
ministration that  would  wholly  neglect  to  take  cog- 


SERMON  VIII.  189 

nizance  of  sucli  outlaws — that  would  neither  attempt 
to  bring  them  to  submission  and  obedience,  nor  to 
punish  them  for  their  rebellion — might  expect  tlie 
contagion  of  tiieir  example  to  spread,  and  involve 
such  multitudes  as  would  soon  subvert  all  govern- 
ment. This  fact,  in  all  its  force,  may  be  transferred 
from  the  policy  of  states  to  the  government  of  the 
thoughts,  and  find  in  the  latter  a  most  striking  veri- 
fication. Any  attempt  to  give  up  the  reins,  and  in- 
dulge certain  trains  of  thought,  while  we  flatter  our- 
selves that  we  curb  and  control  others,  will  soon 
utterly  destroy  so  partial  and  feeble  a  government, 
and  leave  the  mind  a  hapless  prey  to  anarchy.  Be- 
sides, God  has  not  left  it  optional  with  us  to  select 
that  class  of  thoughts  which  we  may  regard  as  easi- 
est and  most  agreeable  to  govern.  His  "  law  is  ex- 
ceeding broad:''  he  will  have  the  whole  heart  or 
none.  He  will  have  us  honestly  attempt  to  govern 
ALL,  even  our  most  secret  thoughts,  or  he  will  leave 
us  to  utter  disappointment  and  failure  in  our  partial 
efforts.  Aim  to  extend  your  government,  then,  as 
far  as  He  extends  the  claims  of  His  law,  and  adopt 
and  regard  that  law  as  the  divinely  authorized  stand- 
ard of  all  true  government  of  the  thoughts.  Aim  at 
a  noble,  sweeping  universality,  such  as  those  mighty 
weapons  of  your  warfare  which  God  has  furnished 
indicate  that  you  are  to  struggle  for  and  hope  to  at- 
tain; for  He  will  accept  nothing  less  at  your  hands. 
This  may  seem  hard.  You  may  halt  and  well 
nigh  faint  in  the  great  and  prolonged  effort  neces- 
sary to  so  universal  a  control  over  your  capacities 
of  thought!  But  God  will  help  you;  God  will 
strengthen  you;   God  will   rouse  you   and  inspire 


190  SERMON  VIII. 

you  with  fresh  courage  by  speaking  into  your  souls 
the  sublime  motto — "bringing  every  thought  into 
captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

VI.  The  duty  of  governing  our  thoughts  neces- 
sarily includes  a  deep  practical  conviction  that  it 
is  an  ARDUOUS,  a  mighty  work.  A  moment  of 
consideration  will  show  you  how  necessary  is  such 
a  conviction  to  the  successful  government  of  your 
thoughts.  The  fact  is  familiar  to  us  all,  that  we  put 
forth  efforts  and  apply  a  power  in  exact  proportion 
to  our  views  of  the  magnitude  and  difficulty  of  the 
work  to  be  done.  As  an  instance,  if  we  have  a 
wrong  estimate  of  the  actual  weight  of  a  beam  of 
timber  or  a  block  of  granite,  which  we  wish  to  raise 
and  place  in  a  building — if  we  regard  it  as  much 
lighter  than  it  really  is — we  shall  certainly  fail  in 
our  first  efforts  by  applying  a  less  degree  of  power 
than  is  necessary  to  effect  this  work.  And  the  only 
way  in  which  we  can  ever  effect  it  is  by  having  a 
Just  estimate  of  the  actual  weight,  and  then  putting 
forth  efforts  and  applying  a  power  proportionate. 
Now,  this  principle  is  just  as  applicable  to  moral  as 
to  physical  or  mechanical  enterprise;  as  applicable 
to  the  government  of  the  thoughts  as  to  the  raising 
a  beam  of  timber  or  a  block  of  granite  to  the  top  of 
a  building.  A  wrong  estimate — an  undervaluation 
of  the  real  difficulty  and  mightiness  of  the  work, 
will  render  all  attempts  at  governing  the  thoughts 
unsuccessful.  It  may  be  repeated,  then,  that  this 
duty  necessarily  includes  a  deep,  practical  convic- 
tion that  it  is  a  great,  a  most  arduous  work.  And, 
from  what  has  already  been  said,  this  must  now  ap- 
pear an  obvious  and  indubitable  truth.   The  govern- 


SERMON  VIII.  191 

ment  of  the  thoughts,  to  minds  environed  by  the 
thraldom  of  the  apostacy,  is  no  trivial  task.  Their 
very  ninnher  is  appalling — running  on,  in  our 
waking  hours,  in  one  continuous  stream,  and  suc- 
ceeding each  other  with  the  celerity  of  lightning. 
The  busy,  active  soul,  throwing  out  a  thought  at 
every  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  we 
required  to  watch  and  give  directions  to  them,  to 
sway  and  control  them  all  as  God  demands  them  to 
be  governed!  Then  reflect  on  the  subtle  nature  of 
thought;  how  it  originates  in  that  purely  spiritual 
part  of  our  nature  which  is  wrapt  in  so  much  mys- 
tery, of  which  none  of  the  senses  can  take  cogni- 
zance, and  into  the  depths  of  which  few,  if  any,  have 
the  power  to  penetrate — how  silently^  how  secretly 
thought  after  thought  arises  there  !  How  faint  is 
our  own  consciousness,  frequently,  of  their  number 
and  character  as  they  occur!  How  soon  some  of 
them  seem  to  vanish,  and  are  utterly  forgotten  by 
us,  but  not  by  that  Omniscience  which  sees  even 
our  secret  thoughts  afar  off!  Take  into  the  ac- 
count, also,  what  a  world  of  turmoil  and  confusion 
there  is  without,  to  divert  our  attention  from  "  the 
hidden  man  of  the  heart,"  in  all  his  busy  thinking. 
All  our  senses  constantly  addressed  by  external 
things — the  bustle  and  competitions,  the  noise  and 
tumult  of  ordinary  pursuits,  to  distract  us  and  drown 
reflection — perpetual  sights  meeting  the  eye,  and 
perpetual  sounds  addressed  to  the  ear,  to  blind  us  to 
the  dim  form  and  deafen  us  to  the  still,  small  voice 
of  that  multitude  of  thoughts  going  on  secretly 
within,  which  God  requires  us  to  govern.  And 
then  there  is  another,  and  a  still  more  formidable 


192  SERMON  VIII. 

difficulty,  the  dreadful  bias  of  the  fallen  mind — the 
natural,  deep-rooted  dislike  which  it  has  to  have  its 
thoughts  brought  into  the  obedience  which  this  go- 
vernment demands.  The  remains  of  that  "  natural 
man  that  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit "  are 
still  here  to  seduce  the  thoughts  from  their  alle- 
giance and  foment  rebellion.  A  part  of  that  carnal 
mind,  which  does  not  like  to  retain  God  in  its 
thoughts,  is  here  with  its  old  aversion.  A  part  of 
those  affections  that  were  once  set  exclusively  upon 
things  on  the  earth,  still  cling  and  send  clusters  of 
thoughts  to  these  forbidden  objects.  All  the  pas- 
sions and  appetites  of  the  flesh  war  against  the  right 
government  of  the  thoughts.  Superadded  to  all 
these,  we  have  also  the  temptations,  the  wiles,  the 
power  and  malicious  policy  of  a  mighty  fallen  spi- 
rit, who  doubtless  has  modes  of  access  to  our  minds, 
and  means  of  influencing  our  trains  of  thought  for 
evil,  of  which  we  can  form  no  adequate  conception. 
And  now,  with  all  this  fearful  array  of  difficulties, 
contemplate  for  a  moment  the  kind  of  government 
we  are  to  exercise  over  our  thoughts.  It  is  a  uni- 
versal government,  from  which  no  thought,  or  trains 
of  thought,  can  be  excused  or  excluded.  The  funda- 
mental law  is,  "  bring  every  thought  into  captivi- 
ty?^ But,  to  what  standard  of  obedience  is  every 
thought  to  be  brought?  "Bringing  every  thought 
into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ.'^  What 
a  high,  spiritual,  holy  government!  What  a  stand- 
ard of  obedience!  What  a  control  and  victory  over 
mind  are  here  involved!  What  work  for  an  angel! 
To  learn  to  think  only  for  Christ;  to  subject  the 
active  energies  of  the  immortal  mind  to  the  law  of 


SERMON   VIII.  193 

his  love;  to  take  captive  every  stealthy,  secret 
thought  ere  it  escapes,  and  bring  it  into  sweet  obe- 
dience to  him;  to  live  on  through  life  with  the  en- 
tire currents  of  the  thinkijig  soul  controlled  and 
made  to  flow  submissively  at  his  feet,  is  a  work 
more  difficult,  more  mighty — involving  greater  con- 
flicts, severer  self-denials,  deeper  sorrows,  and  more 
sublime  triumphs  than  any  work  ever  performed  in 
our  world,  save  that  of  the  great  atonement!  He 
that  would  successfully  perform  this  work,  then, 
must  bear  about  with  him  the  undying  conviction, 
that  such  is  its  intrinsic  magnitude  and  mightiness 
that  it  will  call  for  more  than  the  undivided  ener- 
gies of  his  whole  being!     And  hence  I  remark, 

Lastly.  That  the  duty  indicated  in  the  text  im- 
plies that  we  earnestly  seek  and  humbly  depend 
on  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  control 
our  thoughts.  When  we  contemplate  the  intrinsic 
delicacy,  difficulty,  and  magnitude  of  this  work,  and 
the  tremendous  organized  opposition  of  the  world 
and  the  devil  from  without,  making  a  league  and 
alliance  with  remaining  corruptions  within  the  mind 
itself,  and  these  combined  forces  constantly  at  work 
to  excite  the  thoughts  to  rebel, -our  frail  nature 
shrinks  back  appalled,  and  we  despairingly  exclaim, 
*'Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?" — who  can 
bring  "  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obe- 
dience of  Christ?'^  And  when  we  hear  even  in- 
spired apostles  mournfully  affirming,  ^^  ive  are  not 
sufficient  of  ourselves  to  think  any  thing  as  of 
ourselves,"  we  have  to  take  refuge  from  our  an- 
guish and  despondency  just  where  those  apostles 
did  from  theirs—^' but  our  sufficiency  is  of 
17 


194  SERMON  VIII. 

God."  Till  we  learn  this,  and  live  by  faith  on  the 
omnipotent  all-sufficiency  of  God,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
we  have  not  learned  the  first  lesson  in  our  success- 
ful government  of  the  thoughts.  Our  efficient  help 
is  in  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  alone.  It  is  by  a  pray- 
erful seeking  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  an  humble, 
gracious  confidence  in  his  influence  to  control  our 
thoughts,  that  we  connect  ourselves  with  the  only 
power  in  the  universe  that  has  a  supreme  and  abso- 
lute command  over  the  whole  empire  of  thought. 
The  Holy  Ghost  alone  hath  such  a  command.  He 
is  "  the  Father  of  our  spirits."  He  made  man,  and 
knows  what  is  in  him.  The  human  mind,  with  all 
its  secret  springs,  its  wondrous  susceptibilities,  and 
its  facilities  of  thought,  is  a  perfect  transparency, 
always  "naked  and  open"  to  the  gaze  of  the  Spi- 
rit's omniscience.  So  all  the  causes,  from  without 
or  from  within,  that  act  upon  the  mind,  are  not  only 
intuitively  seen  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  are  under 
his  immediate  and  absolute  control.  What  infinite 
resources  and  facilities  of  access  to  the  mind,  and  of 
influencing  its  trains  of  thought,  must  He  possess! 
The  aid  of  this  almighty,  all-wise  agent — this  best, 
greatest  ascension  gift  of  our  glorified,  reigning  Re- 
deemer— is  just  what  we  need  to  enable  us  to  bring 
"  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ."  This  is  the  gift,  too,  which  God  is  more 
willing  to  bestow  than  are  parents  to  give  bread  to 
their  children.  And  He  is  willing  to  dwell  in  us, 
and  efiect  this  great  work.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  infi- 
nitely benevolent,  and  takes  a  most  deep  and  sym- 
pathizing interest  in  the  difficult  and  mighty  task  of 
governing  our  thoughts.     He  will  smile  upon  us, 


SERMON  VIII.  195 

and  afford  us  his  almighty  aid  in  the  feeblest  effort 
sincerely  made  to  perform  this  arduous,  this  stupen- 
dous work.     It  is  His  office  to  "search  all  things, 
yea,  the  deep  things  of  God,"  and  reveal  them  to  us; 
to  take  of  the  things  of  Christ  and  show  them  to  us, 
and  to  bring  to  our  remembrance  whatsoever  Christ 
hath  said  as  the  objects  or  exciting  causes  of  holy 
trains  of  thought.     To  urge  you,  then,  to  seek  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  to  inspire  you  with  an  unshaken 
confidence  in  His  absolute  control  over  our  thoughts, 
let  me  remind  you  how  irresistibly  he  influences 
the  convicted  sinner's  mind.     In  that  case  there 
is  all  the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  warring,  with 
newly  roused  energy,  against  every  right  thought; 
there  is  all  the  power  of  cherished,  fortified  wrong 
habits  of  thought;  there  are  the  pleadings  of  all  the 
depraved  passions  and  appetites  of  his  fallen  nature, 
that  he  would  dismiss  every  serious  thought;  there 
is  his  own  voluntary  and  desperate  resolve  to  shake 
off  all  his  religious  impressions;  and  there  are  all 
the  dreadful  means  he  uses  to  fulfil  this  resolve — 
wicked  company,  light  reading,  neglect  of  prayer 
and  the  Bible,  plunging  into  noisy  pleasures,  and  a 
thousand  other  expedients  to  drown  thought  and 
banish  reflection,  and  yet  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  in- 
finite ease,  keeps  conviction  fastened  and  rankling 
in  that  mind;  keeps  its  thoughts  on  itself — on  its 
guilt  and  ruin — on  its  imminent  danger — on  its  ne- 
glected Saviour — on  its  angry  God — on  a  hastening 
judgment  and  a  hopeless  eternity,  till  that  mind, 
worn  out  with  the  fruitless  struggle  to  banish  its  se- 
rious thoughts,  submits  to  Christ  and  is  saved. 
Now,  what  cannot  that  Spirit  effect  for  the  be- 


196  SERMON  VIII. 

lieving  soul  that  seeks  his  aid,  and  humbly  depends 
on  his  influence  to  enable  it  to  govern  its  thoughts 
aright?  Oh,  seek  Him  with  all  the  heart! — confide 
in  Him — yield  your  whole  soul  to  His  divine  con- 
trol— live  perpetually  in  His  presence,  and  that  pre- 
sence will  form  a  wall  of  fire  to  guard  every  avenue 
to  your  minds  from  the  intrusion  of  unprofitable 
thoughts,  while  His  divine  teachings  and  His  direct 
influences  will  awaken  a  ceaseless  succession  of  holy 
thoughts  that  will  go  on  "  as  wave  on  wave  in  still 
seas  when  storms  are  laid,"  till  every  one  shall  be 
brought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ, 
and  laid^  as  the  soul's  willing  offering,  at  his  feet 


SERMON  IX.  197 


SERMON   IX 


"  Bringing  every  thought  into  captivity  unto  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

2  COKINTHIANS,  X.  5. 

In  the  plan  of  treating  this  subject,  it  will  be  re- 
collected, that  two  general  propositions  were  de- 
duced from  the  text, — 1.  To  inquire  what  is  im- 
plied or  included  in  the  duty  of  governing  the 
thoughts,  and, — 2.  To  present  some  considerations 
to  enforce  this  duty.  The  discussion  in  the  pre- 
ceding discourse,  has  been  confined  exclusively  to 
the  first  of  these  propositions.  The  propriety  and 
importance  of*exhibiting  its  nature,  of  explaining, 
and  clearly  defining,  the  great  duty  of  governing  the 
thoughts,  in  order  to  urge  the  performance  of  it, 
must  be  obvious.  How  can  we  successfully  perform, 
or  even  intelligently  attempt,  a  duty  not  clearly 
seen  and  understood.  A  duty  that  lies  in  hazy  in- 
distinctness, as  undefined  as  vague  forms  of  mist,  or, 
as  the  Spirit  that  presented  itself  to  Job  in  a  dream, 
no  man  ever  did,  or  ever  will,  make  a  serious  effort 
to  perform.  Nor,  indeed,  is  it  possible,  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  that  such  an  effort  should  be  made; 
for  it  is  definite  and  intelligible  objects  only,  that 
excite  the  mind  to  action.  And  hence,  the  religious 
teacher,  who  attempts  by  fervid  declamation,  and 
pathetic  anecdote,  to  enforce  duties  which  he  never 
defines  and  explains,  and  which  his  hearers  do  not 
17* 


198  SERMON  IX. 

clearly  comprehend,  acts  a}30ut  as  wisely,  and  will 
be  about  as  successful,  as  the  man  who  would  invert 
the  order  of  building,  and  attempt  to  commence  his 
edifice  at  the  top,  and  work  downward,  finishing  at 
the  foundation;  with  this  difference,  however,  that 
the  great  law  of  terrestrial  gravitation  would  bring 
the  crazy  architect,  together  with  his  materials, 
speedily  down  to  the  ground  in  promiscuous  con- 
fusion, and  in  all  probability,  cure  him  of  his  folly, 
and  prevent  a  second  like  attempt;  while  there  is 
no  such  law  of  moral  gravitation,  to  hurl  the  spiri- 
tual builder  down  from  the  heights  of  his  folly  and 
fancy  work.  Having,  then,  my  hearers,  made  an 
honest,  and  earnest  attempt  to  define,  explain,  and 
render  perfectly  intelligible  to  you,  the  great  duty 
of  governing  the  thoughts,  may  I  not,  now,  unpre- 
sumptuously  look  up  to  God  for  his  aid  and  blessing, 
and  claim  from  you  a  serious  attention,  while  I  pre- 
sent some  considerations  to  enforce  this  duty?  A 
more  important  Christian  duty  could  not  well  be 
pressed  on  your  notice,  nor  one,  in  the  vigorous 
performance  of  which,  I  could  feel  a  more  eager  and 
earnest  desire  to  enlist  you  with  your  whole  heart. 
I.  The^r^^  consideration  which  I  would  present 
to  enforce  on  you  this  duty,  is, — that  our  thoughts 
are  a  part  of  our  moral  account  ability — we  are 
responsible  for  than,  and  will  have  to  answer  for 
their  government  at  the  bar  of  God.  Every 
movement  made  by  a  nature  so  mysterious,  so 
active,  so  mighty,  and  so  enduring  as  that  of  the 
immortal  mind,  must  involve  great  interests.  That 
mind  is  the  offspring  of  God — holds  the  most  en- 
deared relations,  and  is  bound  to  him  by  tender  and 


SERMON  IX.  lyy 

infinite  obligations.  Pie  has  placed  it  in  this  sunny 
world  of  probation,  mercy,  and  hope.  On  that  mind, 
God's  love  has  bestowed  the  power  of  thouq/it  as 
its  pre-eminent  distinction.  He  has  lavislicd  Upon 
it  the  splendid  endowments  of  an  intelligent,  ra- 
tional, immortal  nature.  Can  He  then  require  less 
of  it,  than  to  render  Him  an  account  of  the  use  which 
it  makes  of  «//  the  noble  faculties  of  its  being? — of 
the  total  results  of  those  divine  gifts  which  he  has 
so  munificently  granted  to  it?  Accountability  for 
our  secret  thoughts^  is  a  plain  indubitable  doctrine 
of  the  Bible.  God  is  to  "judge  the  secrets  of  men's 
hearts."  The  idea,  that  our  outward  acts  as  they 
appear  to  the  world,  are  to  constitute  the  only  items 
in  our  final  account,  is  utterly  preposterous.  The 
entire  workings  of  the  busy  spirit  of  man,  here  in 
God's  world,  and  under  the  schemes  of  providence 
and  grace,  are  to  be  developed  and  accounted  for  at 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  Is  not  the  mind 
voluntary  in  all  its  thinking?  Does  not  the  quality 
oi  right  or  lurong  attach  to  secret  thoughts,  as  well 
as  those  that  are  imbodied  and  brought  to  view  in 
sinful  or  holy  actions?  And,  if  so,  what  can  be 
more  manifest,  than  that  our  thoughts  are  a  part  of 
our  moral  and  accoufitable  doings,  for  which  we 
shall  be  juclged,  and  condemned,  or  acquitted  at  last. 
Not  only  will  our  thoughts  be  a/^crr/,  but  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  our  final  accountability  to  God.  Re- 
flect for  a  moment,  how  small  is  the  sum  of  what  we 
actually  do,  compared  with  what  we  think  every 
day.  As  to  numbers,  our  actions  dwindle  into  insig- 
nificance, in  comparison  with  "  the  multitude  of  our 
thoughts  within  us."     For  every  one  of  the  latter, 


200  SERMON  IX. 

we  shall  give  an  account  to  God,  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. Our  "  secret  sins  will  then  be  set  in  the 
light  of  his  countenance."  0!  is  it  safe  then,  to 
neglect  the  government  of  our  thoughts  ! — to  leave 
this  great  sphere  of  our  accountable  activity  to  be 
filled  at  random,  its  movements  unnoticed,  un- 
checked, and  uncontrolled  by  us,  when  every  one 
of  them  is  carrying  its  serious  ulterior  issue  to  the 
tribunal  of  God!  Every  transient  thought,  though 
utterly  faded  from  memory,  and  long  since  lost  to 
the  mind,  the  fires  of  the  final  day  will  bring  out 
again,  legible  to  the  universe,  as  characters  traced 
by  invisible  ink.  Not  one,  of  all  the  myriads  that 
have  ever  passed  through  the  soul,  will  then  escape 
the  scrutiny  of  God's  eye,  or  the  awards  of  his  eter- 
nal justice.  0  what  a  consideration,  to  enforce  on 
you  the  duty  of  governing  your  thoughts.  There 
is  truth  as  well  as  poetry  in  the  caution: — 

"  Guard  well  your  thoughts, 
Your  thoughts  are  heard  in  heaven.'* 

Every  moment  they  are  sending  reports  from  your 
heart  to  the  ear  of  God,  and  he  is  beseeching  you 
by  the  future  terrors,  and  glories  of  eternal  doom, 
to  "  bring  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obe- 
dience of  Christ." 

II.  A  second  consideration  to  enforce  this  duty 
is,  that  the  thoughts  which  you  habitually  cherish, 
will  exert  a  controlling  influence  informing  your 
moral  character,  and  in  shaping  your  course  of 
outward  action.  No  one  will  doubt  but  that  Solo- 
mon had  a  deep  practical  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture. Indeed,  the  accuracy  and  precision  with 
which  he  traces  the  operation  of  those  causes  that 


SERMON  IX.  201 

form  moral  character  and  influence  outward  action 
is  a  striking  peculiarity  of  his  writings.  Now,  this 
wisest  of  men,  under  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  has  uttered  it  as  a  profound  maxim  in  the 
philosophy  of  human  nature,  that  'Uts  a  man  think- 
ETH  IN  HIS  HEART,  SO  IS  hc.^'  Thc  truth  SO  obvi- 
ously  disclosed  in  this  maxim,  is,  that  our  thoughts, 
even  our  7nost  secret  thoughts,  exert  the  control- 
ling and  decisive  influence  in  forming  our  moral 
character,  and  shaping  our  actions.  This  truth  is 
susceptible  of  satisfactory  demonstration.  Those  of 
you  at  all  acquainted  with  the  manner  in  which 
mind  is  influenced,  must  be  aware,  that  in  order  to 
form  it  to  any  particular  character,  certain  appro- 
priate objects  must  be  present  to  the  mind.  If  no 
such  objects  were  within  the  cognizance  of  the  mind 
to  arrest  its  attention,  employ  its  activities,  and  in- 
terest its  afiections,  they  could  not,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  exert  any  influence  whatever  on  its  cha- 
racter, their  recognised  presence  being  absolutely 
necessary  to  such  a  result.  Now,  if  objects  of  con- 
templation must  be  before  the  mind  in  order  to  in- 
fluence and  form  its  character,  then,  the  more  con- 
stantly and  intimately  they  are  present,  the  more 
powerfully  and  decisively  will  they  influence  the 
character  and  actions.  But  what  objects  can  be  so 
constantly  and  so  intimately  present  to  the  mind  as 
its  own  thoughts?  That  is  a  capital  mistake  of 
some  to  suppose  that  outward  circumstances  mainly 
form  the  character.  A  little  reflection  will  con- 
vince any  one,  tiiat  the  mind  cannot  be  held  in  ac- 
tual contact  with  any  objects  out  of  itself,  except  for 
a  comparatively  short  period.     Without  the  power 


202  SERMON  IX. 

of  remembering  and  thinking  of  objects  after  the 
mind  is  separated  from  them,  it  is  obvious  that  out- 
ward circumstances  would  exert  little,  if  any  influ- 
ence, on  its  character.  Favourable  or  unfavourable 
external  circumstances,  then,  are  to  be  sought  or 
avoided,  not  because  they  can  possibly  be  kept  so 
constantly  before  the  mind,  as  of  themselves  seri- 
ously to  influence  its  character,  but  because  they  are 
the  exciting  causes  of  long  and  silent  trains  of  right 
or  wrong  thinking,  prosecuted  by  the  mind  after 
its  separation,  and  at  any  distance  from  the  external 
objects.  How  manifest,  then,  must  it  be,  that  it  is 
the  kind  of  thoughts  habitually  cherished  by  us, 
that  decides  our  moral  character  and  actions.  Re- 
flect, for  a  moment,  on  the  advantage  which  our 
thoughts  have  over  all  other  causes  in  forming  our 
character,  and  shaping  our  conduct.  They  are  our 
OWN  thoughts,  with  the  image  and  superscription  of 
ourselves  upon  them.  They  are  no^i^-guests  with 
the  mind,  not  strangers  admitted  with  formality, 
suspicion,  and  reserve.  Nay,  our  thoughts  are  the 
very  kindred,  the  confidential  household,  and  fa- 
mily circle  of  the  mind,  dwelling  with  it  in  deep, 
affectionate,  secret  intimacy.  The  closest  privacy 
is  here,  the  mind  yielding  itself  to  the  most  unre- 
stricted communion  with  its  thoughts,  without  the 
fear  that  its  secrets  will  ever  be  betrayed  to  any 
finite  being.  These  thoughts  go  with  it,  sustain 
their  friendly,  intimate,  and  confidential  relations  to 
the  mind  wherever  it  goes.  They  form  daily  a  lit- 
tle internal  world,  and  incessantly  hold  up  their  ob- 
jects, bright  or  dark,  pure  or  polluted,  to  the  eye  of 
the  soul.     Now,  with  such  advantages  as  these,  must 


SERMON  IX.  203 

not  our  habitual  trains  of  thought  exert  an  imperi- 
ous, an  all-determining  influence  in  forming  our 
moral  character,  and  directing  our  course  of  action? 
When,  therefore,  you  see  a  man  exhibiting  the  traits 
of  a  lofty  moral  character,  a  stern  integrity,  an  in- 
flexible adherence  to  truth,  a  charity  that  suflereth 
long  and  is  kind,  a  serene,  disinterested,  diffusive 
benevolence,  that  embraces  the  world  as  its  sphere, 
a  Christ-like  forgiveness  of  injuries,  a  conscience 
faithful  to  the  whole  compass  of  Christian  duty,  and 
a  spirit  of  deep  devotion  to  God,  you  may  be  assured 
that  such  a  character  is  not  formed  by  chance,  nor 
by  outward  circumstances  merely.     It  is  the  pro- 
duct, the  legitimate  effect,  of  a  strict  government 
over  the  thoughts.     That  man  has  experienced  a 
tremendous  secret    conflict  in   taking   captive    his 
thoughts,  and  reducing  them  to  obedience.     He  has 
had  his  hours  of  retired  meditation,  by  which  he  has 
imbued  his  mind  with  the  love  of  what  is  right  and 
true;  he  has  had  his  seasons  of  silent,  deep  commu- 
nion with  his  own  heart,  in  which  he  has  long  and 
patiently  held  up  before  it  objects  of  benevolence, 
pictures  of  the  magnanimous  grace  of  forgiveness  of 
injuries,  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  the  charms  of 
an   unreserved  and  self-sacrificing  consecration  to 
God,  that  all  these  might  stamp  on  that  heart  inde- 
libly their  own  bright  images.     And  they  have  done 
so,  and  been  the  principal  means  in  the  hands  of 
the  Spirit  in  forming  that  exalted  moral  character 
which  he  now  exhibits.     When  such  a  man  bursts 
upon  the  world  as  a  newly  risen  sun,  blessing  it 
with  a  noble  course  of  beneficent  action,  that  is  but 
the  legitimate  consequence  of  the  character  to  which 


204  SERMON  IX. 

his  thoughts  have  formed  him;  for  actions  are  but 
the  character  imbodied  and  brought  out  visibly  in 
the  life.    This  seems  to  be  what  the  Saviour  means, 
when  he  says,  "5?/  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 
Therefore,  when  you  see  a  man  displaying  a  signally 
depraved   moral  character,  a  want  of  principle,  a 
want  of  truth,  a  want  of  charity,  a  supreme  selfish- 
ness, intent  only  on  his  personal  gratification,  cost 
what  it  may  to  all  the  world  besides,  an  unforgiving, 
revengeful,  malicious  temper,  a  reckless  disregard 
of  all  the  duties  of  religion,  of  the  interests  of  the 
soul,  and  the  claims  of  God,  you  may  know  with 
certainty,  that  such  a  character  has  not  been  formed 
by  chance,  but  is  the  legitimate  effect  of  a  total 
neglect  to  govern  the  thoughts.     That  man  has  si- 
lently yielded,  without  a  struggle,  to  trains  of  evil, 
forbidden  thought.     He  has  had  his  hours  of  retired 
meditation  too,  when  he  has  cherished  thoughts  of 
the  seeming  advantage  of  dishonesty  and  falsehood, 
he  has  had  his  seasons  of  silent,  deep  communion 
with  his  own  heart,  when  he  has  held  up  before  it 
objects  of  supreme  selfishness,  and  plans  of  personal 
gratification,  pictures  of  revenge,  and  murderous  re- 
taliation of  injuries,  the  supposed  advantages  of  free- 
dom from  the  restraints  of  conscience,  from  religious 
observances,  from  conviction  of  sin,  and  from  the 
claims  of  God,  till  all  these  have  stamped  indelibly 
on  his  heart  their  own  dark  and  polluted  images. 
And  when  such  a  man  breaks  on  the  world,  breath- 
ing blasting  and  mildew  over  society,  and  scatter- 
ing firebrands,  arrows,  and  death,  in  his  disastrous 
career,  that  is  but  the  natural  consequence  of  the 
character  to  which  his  previous  trains  of  thought 


SERMON  IX.  205 

have  formed  him.  It  has  passed  into  a  proverb,  that 
no  man  can  become  a  consummate  villain  at  once. 
The  mind  must  be  first  made  familiar  with  vice  in 
its  own  retired  secret  thoughts.  The  wrong  must 
be  silently  revolved  and  cherished  there,  till  it 
blunts  the  sensibility  of  conscience,  blinds  the  men- 
tal eye,  and  warps  the  judgment,  before  the  man 
can  have  the  courage  to  perpetrate  it  in  overt  act. 
Now,  my  hearers,  I  trust  you  see  how  complete 
and  decisive  an  influence  in  forming  your  moral 
character  and  directing  your  conduct,  the  kind  of 
thoughts  you  cherish  will  inevitably  exert.  By  all 
that  is  dreadful  in  a  depraved  character  and  vicious 
life;  and  by  all  that  is  delightful  in  a  holy  character 
and  a  virtuous  life;  by  all  the  conscious  innocence, 
the  self-respect,  the  pure  imaginings,  the  holy  com- 
munion with  objects  of  excellence,  the  high  and  so- 
lemn self-control,  and  the  extensive  usefulness  and 
unlimited  influence  for  good,  of  such  a  character  and 
life,  God  now  warns  and  woos  you  to  govern  your 
thoughts  aright,  to  struggle  in  his  strength  to  bring 
every  one  into  captivity  unto  the  obedience  of 
Christ. 

III.  A  strict  government  of  your  thoughts  will 
free  you  from  the  secret  impulses  of  sinful  pas- 
sion, and  thus  fortify  you  against  the  power  of 
temptations  from  without.  It  is  an  erroneous  sup- 
position, that  we  escape  the  guilt  and  misery  of 
depraved  passions  by  merely  preventing  them  from 
breaking  forth  in  external  action.  Besides  this 
open  sunny  world,  in  which  they  meet  with  many 
checks,  these  passions  have  a  retired,  curtained  the- 
atre, where  they  enact  their  secret  scenes  of  lawless 
18 


206  SERMON  IX. 

violence  on  our  moral  nature.  "The  hiddeo  man 
of  the  heart"  is  often  agitated,  preyed  upon,  and  his 
strength  and  beauty  consumed  by  fires  of  sinful  pas- 
sions that  do  not  burst  forth,  blaze  around,  and 
blacken  "  the  outer  man/'  Such  fires  are  the  more 
consuming,  from  the  very  fact  that  they  are  con- 
cealed and  burn  in  the  dark.  Now,  what  supplies 
the  fuel  to  these  intense  volcanic  flames  within  the 
soul?  Thought,  wrong,  VJUGOYERNEi)  thought.  No 
passion  of  our  nature  can  be  excited  and  brought 
into  activity,  till  the  mind  first  thinks  of  the  ob- 
ject of  that  passion,  forms  distinct  conceptions  of  it, 
dwells  on  those  conceptions,  and  holds  up  exagge- 
rated views  of  the  pleasures  of  indulgence.  Such  a 
process  of  thinking  must,  by  a  necessary  law  of  our 
being,  jorecec?e  the  awakening  and  action  of  the  pas- 
sions. The  trains  that  form  this  process  of  think- 
ing, are  the  exciting  causes  of  the  activity  of  the 
passions.  And  as  certainly  as  such  trains  of  thought 
are  permitted  to  enter  and  lodge  in  the  mind,  they 
will  arouse  and  give  maddening  energy  to  the  pas- 
sions. It  is  wrong  thought  that  kindles  "  the 
world  of  iniquity"  within  the  depraved  mind,  and 
supplies  fuel  to  the  smothered  flames  of  hell  that  rage 
there !  Would  you,  my  hearers,  be  freed  from  their 
consuming  glow?  Govern  well  your  thoughts. 
But  one  thing  can  secure  you  from  the  secret  agita- 
tion, the  turmoil,  the  anarchy  and  fiery  impulses  of 
sinful  passions.  There  is  but  one  sovereign  remedy 
against  the  violence,  war,  and  sweeping  havoc, 
which  they  will  make  on  your  inward  peace,  and 
God  himself  in  mercy  has  prescribed  that — '^  bring- 
ing every  thought  into  captivity  unto  the  obedi- 


SERMON  IX.  207 

ence  of  C/irist.^^  When  you  have  Icnrncd  to  do 
tliis,  then,  and  not  till  then,  may  you  bid  a  stern 
defiance  to  the  storms  of  secret  sinful  passions,  and 
}'Our  "minds  have  heaven  and  peace  within/' 

But  I  have  remarked,  that  such  a  government  of 
the  thoughts  will  dAsoforiifi/  you  against  the  poiu- 
er  of  temptations  from  loithout.  The  method  by 
which  it  will  effect  this,  is  obviously  inferable  from 
what  has  just  been  said.  For,  if  the  right  govern- 
ment of  the  thoughts  prevent  the  existence  and  ac- 
tion of  sinful  passions  within  the  soul,  then,  you 
perceive,  that  it  removes  the  very  materials  on 
which  outward  temptations  operate.  It  is  an  as- 
sumption as  false,  as  it  is  common,  that  when  an  in- 
dividual yields  and  falls  into  sin,  the  sole  cause  of 
his  fall  consists  in  the  mere  force  of  the  outward 
temptation.  Now,  man  is  no  such  "creature  of  cir- 
cumstances" as  this  would  make  him  to  be.  He  is 
no  such  passive  victim  of  a  resistless  necessity.  The 
voluntary,  prevailing  trains  of  thought,  the  state  of 
the  mind  itself,  give  to  or  take  away  from  external 
temptations  all  their  power.  In  proof  of  this,  we 
need  only  advert  to  the  unquestionable  fact,  that  the 
same  individual  at  one  time,  resolutely  and  success- 
fully resists  temptation,  and  at  another  yields  and 
falls  when  the  mere  external  circumstances  of  the 
temptation  were  precisely  alike  in  both  instance*. 
In  the  first  case,  he  had  kept  the  rein  on  his  thoughts, 
had  excluded  from  his  mind  the  conception  of 
the  forbidden  thing,  and  all  the  alluring  and  exag- 
gerated views  of  the  pleasures  of  criminal  indul- 
gence, nay,  he  had  thought  of  the  wrong,  the  guilt, 
the  remorse,  the  condemnation  and  pangs  of  con- 


208  SERMON  IX. 

science,  and  the  frown  of  God,  that  he  would  incur 
by  compliance,  and  he  withstood  the  outward  allure- 
ment when  such  was  his  inward  state  of  mind.  In 
the  second  case,  he  had  given  up  the  reins  to  his 
thoughts,  had  cherished  conceptions  of  the  forbid- 
den thing,  had  kept  out  of  view  the  wrong  and  guilt, 
God's  authority  and  frown,  and  held  up  and  dwelt 
only  on  false  and  extravagant  views  of  the  plea- 
sures of  criminal  compliance,  and  he  fell  before  the 
outward  temptation  when  such  was  the  secret  state 
of  his  heart.  The  Bible  gives  us  the  explanation 
of  this  fall,  in  the  following  striking  declaration: 
'*He  that  hath  no  rule  over  his  own  spirit,  is  like  a 
city  that  is  broken  down  and  without  walls." 

We  need  seek  no  further  explanation  of  a  matter 
so  plain,  and  whose  truth  is  so  deeply  written  in  the 
experience  and  observation  of  every  Christian  who 
has  been  seriously  doing  battle  with  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil.  TVroiig  trains  of  thought,  a 
wrong  secret  state  of  the  mind,  must  ordinarily 
precede  every  instance  of  falling  before  the  power 
of  outward  temptation.  Therefore,  the  right  go- 
vernment of  the  thoughts,  a  right  state  of  mind,  an- 
ticipates the  attacks  of  temptation,  and  rears  around 
the  soul  a  fortification  that  will  defy  all  the  embat- 
tled forces  from  without.  Why  did  the  Son  of  God 
so  triumphantly  baffle  all  the  wiles  of  the  devil,  and 
remain  unshaken,  when  plied  by  that  arch-fiend  for 
forty  days  and  forty  nights,  with  all  the  advantage 
of  the  solitude  of  a  wilderness  and  his  own  super- 
human skill  and  power  to  give  unwonted  force  to 
outward  temptation  ?  Because  the  Saviour  had  a 
perfect   government   over   his    thoughts, — he   had 


SERMON  IX.  209 

"  ever}/  thought  in  captivity  unto  the  obedience  '^  of 
righteousness — he  had  never  harboured  one  solitary- 
sinful  conception.  In  liIs  holy  mind  therefore  there 
was  no  tinder  to  be  kindled  in  a  moment  by  a  spark 
from  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  that  flew  so 
thickly  and  yet  fell  so  harmlessly  around  him.  We 
can  now  appreciate  the  significancy  of  Christ's  de- 
claration on  this  point  respecting  himself:  "The 
prince  of  this  world  cometh,  and Jindeth  nothing  in 
meV  No  materials  in  that  perfectly  governed, 
pure  mind  on  which  the  infernal  machinations  pf 
Satan  could  operate!  A  proper  government  of  the 
thoughts  is  the  secret  of  all  the  successful  resistance 
to  temptations  which  the  scriptures  record.  Had 
Joseph,  when  sold  into  Egypt,  been  familiar  with 
such  poetry  as  Byron's  Don  Juan — had  he  been 
filled  with  such  images  as  certain  modern  novels 
paint  on  the  susceptible-young  imagination,  and  had 
he  revolved  and  dwelt  on  these,  enacting  the  vices 
they  so  adroitly  commend  in  his  own  secret  thoughts, 
do  you  suppose  he  would  ever  have  withstood  that 
tremendous  trial  of  his  youthful  purity  in  which  the 
prospect  of  secrecy,  and  the  exalted  station  and 
prjfligate  importunity  of  his  artful  tempter  gave  to 
every  circumstance  of  the  temptation  an  almost  ir- 
resistible energy.  No!  never!  His  virtue  would 
have  been  swept  before  it  as  a  cobweb  before  the 
whirlwind.  But  he  did  triumphantly  withstand  it. 
Why  ?  Because  he  had  previously  exercised  a  ri- 
gid discipline  over  his  own  mind.  In  the  cruel 
malice  and  betrayal  of  his  brethren — in  his  journey- 
ings,  a  lone  captive — in  bondage  and  aflliction — in 
exile  and  anguish  he  had  placed  his  confidence  in 
J8^ 


210  SERMON  IX. 

his  God,  and  learned  in  that  school,  and  had  already 
practised  a  vigilant  government  over  his  thoughts, 
bringing  every  one  into  captivity  unto  the  obedience 
of  Christ.  And  God  was  thus  fitting  him  in  after 
years  to  govern  a  mighty  empire,  and  to  become 
the  arbiter  of  the  temporal  destiny  of  millions,  and 
the  exalted  instrument  of  effecting  a  part  of  the 
eternal  purposes  of  the  Almighty  in  reference  to 
his  ancient  church.  Would  you,  my  hearers,  stand 
nobly  fortified  against  the  sinful  allurements  of 
earth? — would  you  meet  the  mightiest  shock  of  its 
temptations  without  taking  fire  and  being  consumed 
by  the  collision  ? — then  be  entreated  to  govern  well 
your  thoughts,  and  make  the  grand  achievement  of 
bringing  every  one  a  captive  to  the  foot  of  the 
cross. 

IV.  The  proper  government  of  your  thoughts 
will  promote  your  highest  present  happiness. 

It  is  truly  surprising  that  after  ample  experience 
and  observations  to  the  contrary,  we  should  still 
find  men  so  extensively  under  the  delusion,  that 
happiness  primarily  depends  on  favourable  ou/i^^^jrc? 
circumstances.  Even  Christians  sometimes  think 
that  their  spiritual  enjoyment  is  measurably  de- 
pendent on  external  causes.  And  hence,  they  in- 
dulge vain  wishes  that  they  were  situated  different- 
ly from  what  they  are,  supposing  that  then  they 
would  have  more  peace,  more  spiritual  enjoyment. 
But  this  is  all  a  gross  misapprehension.  Happiness 
of  any  kind  is  almost  exclusively  dependent  on  the 
internal  state  of  the  mind  itself,  and  none  more  so 
than  man's  highest  present  happiness,  which  in  tho 
nature  of  the  case  must  he  spiritual.     The  mind  h^§ 


SERMON  IX.  211 

an  empire  all  its  own,  within  itself,  and  wholly  se- 
parate from  outward  circumstances.  This  is  the 
empire  of  thought  and  emotion.  To  govern  this 
well  is  a  greater  achievement  than  to  rule  a  nation, 
and  constitutes  our  highest  present  happiness.  How 
the  right  government  of  the  thoughts  secures  this 
result,  is  neither  a  mystery  nor  a  marvel.  The  very 
consciousness  of  obeying  God  in  this  matter,  and  of 
being  successful  in  gaining  the  mastery  over  our 
own  spirits,  inspires  a  noble  exultation  infinitely  su- 
perior to  the  tumultuous  joy  of  the  greatest  military 
conqueror.  Peace  of  conscience  and  a  sense  of  act- 
ing agreeably  to  enlightened  reason,  are  two  great 
elements  of  spiritual  happiness.  Now,  a  proper 
government  of  the  thoughts  restores  conscience  to 
the  throne,  and  reason  to  its  appro>priate  place  and 
functions.  Conscience  is  thus  guarded  from  wounds, 
and  reason  from  perversion  and  wrong  decisions. 
All  the  powers  of  our  moral  nature  are  thus  ba- 
lanced and  harmonized.  The  usurped  dominion 
of  appetite  and  the  lawless  violence  of  passion  are 
at  an  end,  and  the  soul  has  a  calm,  deep,  delightful 
repose,  the  very  prelude  of  the  rest  of  heaven.  The 
right  government  of  the  thoughts  is  an  indispensa- 
ble condition  on  which  the  highest  enjoyment  in 
the  duties  and  services  of  religion,  public  and  pri- 
vate, is  bestowed.  What  is  necessary  to  give  to  the 
reading  the  word  of  God,  to  meditation  and  to  se- 
cret prayer,  their  full  power  to  render  the  soul  hap- 
py, and  to  satisfy  it  as  with  marrow  and  with  fat- 
ness ?  Freedom  from  tvandering  thoughts — a  dis- 
cipline of  mind  by  which  the  whole  attention  can 
be  concentrated  on  these  exercises.     What  gives  to 


212  SERMON  IX. 

the  Sabbath  its  peaceful  and  holy  influence  over 
the  soul  ? — what  gives  to  the  worship  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, the  hearing  of  the  word  preached,  or  the 
more  familiar  services  of  religion,  their  greatest 
power  to  confer  spiritual  joy  on  the  waiting,  long- 
ing mind?  Freedom  from  vain,  wandering,  dis- 
tracting thoughts.  Now  this  can  be  secured  07il7/  by 
a  well  established  government  of  the  thoughts,  which 
brings  every  one  into  captivity  and  due  subjection. 
You  know,  my  hearers,  by  sad  experience,  that 
the  very  thing  which  constitutes  the  canker  at  the 
root  of  all  spiritual  enjoyment  in  religious  duties  is, 
that  during  the  round  of  these  various  duties,  your 
minds  are  harassed  with  impertinent  and  wandering 
thoughts,  and  your  time  and  strength  occupied  in 
battling  wdth  them,  when  heart  and  soul,  guarded 
from  all  such  intruders,  ought  to  be  calmly  open  to 
the  reception  and  the  gentle  influences  of  the  Spirit, 
and  ought  to  be  wholly  absorbed  in  the  delightful 
exercises  of  a  deep  devotion.  Christians  sometimes 
complain  of  wandering  thoughts  in  their  religious 
duties,  as  though  it  were  something  marvellous  and 
unaccountable  that  they  should  be  thus  plagued. 
But,  brethren,  this  is  no  marvel.  It  is  the  natural, 
the  legitimate,  and  necessary  consequence  of  not 
governing  their  thoughts  at  other  times,  and  before 
they  enter  on  such  duties.  If  men  allowed  their 
thoughts  to  be  as  much,  and  as  habitually  diverted 
from  their  ordinary  pursuits,  as  they  do  from  their 
religious  duties,  they  would  find  but  little  relish  in 
those  pursuits,  and  would  be  greatly  tormented  with 
wandering  thoughts  while  actually  engaged  in  them. 
To  neglect  an  habitual  and  rigid  government  of  the 


SERMON  IX.  213 

th  Oil  gilts,  and  yet  expect  to  be  free  from  distraction 
of  mind,  and  to  enjoy  the  highest  spiritual  happi- 
ness when  we  enter  on  our  religious  duties,  would 
be  as  preposterous  as  for  a  parent  who  neglects  all 
discipline  and  habitual  family  government,  to  expect 
that  occasionally,  when  he  has  visiters,  he  will  be 
free  from  all  the  mortification  of  misrule  and  insu- 
bordination amongst  his  children,  and  will  have  all 
the  domestic  happiness  conferred  by  their  docility, 
obedience,  and  respect.  The  parent,  in  this  case,  is 
vainly  expecting  a  behaviour  from  his  children 
which  they  could  only  exhibit  as  the  result  of  his 
steady,  habitual  discipline  and  government  over 
them.  The  Christian  who  neglects  to  rule  his  own 
busy  spirit,  and  yet  counts  upon  freedom  from  wan- 
dering thoughts,  and  high  spiritual  enjoyment  in  re- 
ligious duties,  is  expecting  a  result  that  can  only  be 
realized  by  an  habitual  and  stern  control  of  the 
thoughts.  No  man  ought  to  look  for  an  effect  with- 
out  its  appropriate  cause  in  the  spiritual,  more  than 
in  the  natural  world.  But  freedom  from  wandering 
thoughts,  and  high  spiritual  joy  in  the  duties  of  reli- 
gion, are  the  effect  of  a  right  government  of  the 
tho'ughts,  and  can  result  from  no  other  cause.  With 
such  a  government,  every  duty  will  be  a  delight — 
the  closet,  the  family  altar,  the  sanctuary,  and  the 
place  of  prayer,  will  all  be  Bethels,  the  house  of 
God,  and  the  gate  of  heaven,  where  no  unholy 
thoughts  shall  intrude,  where  the  soul,  undiverted 
and  serene,  will  hold  peaceful  communion  with  its 
God,  and  be  filled  with  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Now,  brethren,  the  duty  in  the  text  takes  its  appeal 
from  the  highest  spiritual  enjoyment  you  can  have 


214  SERMON  IX. 

this  side  the  third  heavens,  and  speaks  to  the  largest, 
deepest  desires  of  your  souls  after  present  happiness, 
and  solemnly  assures  you  that  such  happiness  is  only 
attainable  by  "  bringing  every  thought  into  captivity 
unto  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

Lastly.  A  successful  government  of  the  thoughts 
is  the  great  secret  of  advancement  in  the  divine 
life,  and  preparation  for  heaven.  This  proposition 
is  obviously  involved  in  the  preceding  part  of  the 
discourse.  If  such  a  government  of  the  thoughts 
exerts  a  powerful  and  determining  influence  on  our 
moral  character  and  our  course  of  action — if  it  frees 
us  from  the  secret  impulses  of  sinful  passions,  and 
fortifies  us  against  all  the  forces  of  external  tempta- 
tion, then,  most  manifestly,  it  sweeps  out  of  our 
way  the  chief  and  greatest  obstacles  to  our  advance- 
ment in  the  divine  life.  Bring  a  right  moulding 
influence  on  the  moral  character,  a  right  control 
over  the  actions,  clear  the  soul  of  the  secret  violent 
impulses  of  lawless  passions,  and  defend  it  with  im- 
pregnable fortifications  from  all  assault  by  outward 
temptations,  and  then  what  should  hinder  its  rege- 
nerated energies  from  moving  onward  in  the  divine 
life,  and  by  God's  help  working  out  successfully  its 
own  salvation?  And  yet,  this  is  but  the  negative 
influence  of  a  right  government  of  the  thoughts  on 
our  growth  in  grace.  It  exerts,  also,  a  direct  and 
positive  influence.  It  secures  the  supremacy  of 
conscience,  leads  us  to  obey  its  dictates,  and  gives 
us  the  advantage  of  the  quick  sensibility  and  pow- 
erful impulses  of  this  faculty  to  what  is  good  and 
holy.  Who  can  compute  what  a  furtherance  in 
grace  may  be  attained  by  the  steady  influence  of  an 


SERMON   IX.  215 

enlightened,  tender,  faithful  conscience?  But  we 
have  seen  in  the  preceding  remarks,  that  the  proper 
government  of  thoughts  also  brings  all  the  moral 
powers  of  the  soul  into  balance  and  harmony,  ha- 
bituates the  understanding  to  love  and  receive  the 
truth,  the  reason  to  make  right  decisions,  the  affec- 
tions to  desire,  and  the  will  to  choose  what  con- 
science, truth,  and  reason  decide  to  be  the  highest 
and  best  ends  of  pursuit.  Now,  is  it  not  obvious, 
that  such  a  balance,  such  a  smooth  harmonious  ac- 
tion of  all  the  faculties  will  give  them  an  incalcula- 
ble efficiency  in  the  great  w'ork  of  advancing  in  the 
divine  life?  They  move  without  that  friction,  and 
those  jars  of  wandering  thought  which  retard  the 
speed,  and  cripple  the  power  of  the  soul  in  running 
the  heavenly  race.  Did  the  government  of  the 
thoughts  effect  nothing  more  than  to  save  the  mind 
from  the  wasting  of  time,  the  harassing  and  debili- 
tating influence  of  wandering  thoughts  during  our 
religious  duties,  it  would,  then,  be  a  great  facility 
in  growing  in  grace.  But  it  does  more  than  this; 
we  have  seen  that  it  makes  all  our  religious  services 
a  delight,  and  confers  the  highest  spiritual  happi- 
ness on  us  in  our  attendance  on  divine  ordinances. 
This,  perhaps,  is  one  great  secret  of  its  power,  for 
"the  JOY  of  the  Lord  is  the  strength  of  his  people.'' 
Yes,  the  world  over,  the  intelligently  joyful  Chris- 
tian is  the  really  and  rapidly  growing  Christian. 
When  the  performance  of  duty  is  our  most  delight- 
ful employment,  when  upon  the  calm,  well  governed 
soul,  the  joys  of  God's  salvation  roll  in  from  the 
administration  of  all  divine  ordinances,  when  that 
soul  is  glowing  with  love  and  delight  in  its  commu- 


216  SERMON  IX. 

nion  with  God,  foretasting  the  raptures  of  heaven's 
bliss,  and  feeling  the  infinite  attractions  of  its  reality 
and  glory,  then  does  it  mount  as  on  wings  of  eagles, 
and  with  eagles'  speed  pursue  its  upward,  onward 
flight,  to  the  consummation  of  the  divine  life.  But 
our  growth  in  grace  does  not  depend  exclusively  on 
the  time  we  spend  in  direct  and  formal  acts  of  reli- 
gious duties  and  worship.  The  time  thus  occupied 
bears  but  a  very  small  proportion  to  the  whole  of 
those  hours  of  life  that  must  be  improved  for  our 
advancement  in  holiness,  and  preparation  for  heaven. 
As  I  have  remarked,  our  holy  religion  is  very  much 
a  religion  of  secret  thotighls.  No  small  part  of  our 
preparation  for  an  eternal  heaven,  consists  in  the 
proper  government  of  that  multitude  of  our  thoughts 
which  crowd  the  mind  in  the  periods  of  the  ordina- 
ry pursuits  and  recreations  of  life.  Now,  as  these 
are  by  far  the  greater  periods  of  our  time,  and  as 
they  will  deeply  influence  the  hours  which  we  spend 
in  direct  religious  services,  that  steady,  habitual  go- 
vernment which  we  exercise  over  our  thoughts  in 
these  larger  portions  of  our  time,  must  prove  the 
great  efficient  means  under  God  of  our  advancement 
in  the  divine  life,  and  our  meetness  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  Nay,  such  a  government  of  the 
thoughts  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  entering  that 
kingdom  at  last.  Advancement  in  holiness  is  not 
possible,  and  heaven  is  not  promised  to  the  man  who 
never  attempts  to  govern  his  thoughts  except  when 
engaged  in  formal  acts  of  religious  service;  for  such 
a  man  really  does  not  govern  them  at  all.  It 
is  he  who  habitually  keeps  his  body  under  by  go- 
verning his  thoughts,  that  in  the  end  shall  not  be 


SERMON  IX.  217 

a  castaway.  It  is  the  man  who  by  this  process  pu- 
rifieth  himself,  even  as  his  Lord  is  pure,  tliat  is,  be- 
ing prepared  for  that  heaven  into  which  the  unholy 
can  never  enter.  It  is  he  who  doeth  the  command- 
ments, those  that  relate  to  the  government  of  the 
thoughts  as  well  as  to  the  outward  actions,  that  shall 
"enter  within  the  gates  into  the  city,  and  shall  have 
right  to  the  tree  of  life.'^  It  is  he  who  fights  the 
good  fight  of  faith — a  part  of  which  consists  in  war- 
ring against  unholy  secret  thoughts,  and  the  whole 
success  of  which  depends  on  their  right  government 
— he  it  is,  that  shall  lay  hold  of  eternal  life,  and  be 
crowned  an  immortal  victor!  The  mind  that  has 
not  so  learned  to  bring  "every  thought  into  capti- 
vity unto  the  obedience  of  Christ,^'  is  not  prepared 
for  his  holy  presence,  nor  for  the  blissful  triumphs 
and  rapturous  exultations  of  heaven.  Those  tri- 
umphs and  exultations  in  no  small  degree  consist  in 
the  perfected  and  glorious  mastery  which  sovereign 
grace  has  enabled  man  to  gain,  and  to  hold  over  his 
own  immortal  spirit.  The  perfect,  hoh^,  eternal 
government  which  the  soul  recovered  from  sin  here, 
shall  exercise  over  its  own  thoughts  hereafter,  will 
be  one  bright  wonder  of  redeeming  grace  in  heaven. 
0!  what  a  motive  is  this  to  enforce  the  duty  con- 
tained in  our  text!  Every  thing  that  is  dear  and 
joyful  to  the  Christian  in  victory  over  the  world, 
in  the  development  and  growth  in  grace  of  all  his 
regenerated  powers;  all  that  is  glorious  in  the  ex- 
panding soul  moving  onward  to  the  sublime  con- 
summation of  its  divine  life,  urging  him  to  govern 
his  thoughts  aright.  Yea,  more,  such  a  government 
of  the  thoughts  is  made  the  indispensable  condition 
19 


218  SERMON  IX. 

of  entering  heaven  itself!  Look  up,  Christian,  to 
yonder  bright  eternal  world.  Let  faith  enter  within 
the  veil,  unto  the  holy  of  holies  there.  Catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  glories  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  that 
create  the  sun-light  of  its  calm  and  endless  day. 
Look  around  on  its  objects  of  infinite  beauty  and 
deep  repose,  its  walls  of  jasper,  its  gates  of  pearl, 
its  streets  of  gold,  its  sea  of  glass  before  the  throne, 
its  pure  crystal  river,  its  trees  and  fruits  of  life, 
behold  the  myriads  of  its  sinless  inhabitants,  think 
of  their  benevolent  activities,  their  exalted  spheres, 
in  which  they  move  "like  stars  unhasting  yet  un- 
resting." Contemplate  their  progress  in  know- 
ledge, their  increase  and  perfection  in  holiness,  the 
joys  of  their  intimate  and  ceaseless  communion  with 
God  and  the  Lamb,  the  transports  of  their  victory, 
catch  the  notes  of  their  new  song,  the  grand  harmo- 
nies of  their  eternal  hosannahs  to  redeeming  grace 
and  dying  love!  0!  do  you  kindle  ancl  glow  now 
with  dilating  aspirations  to  be  one  of  the  number 
who  shall  be  clothed  in  white  with  palms  in  their 
hands  there?  Govern  well  your  thoughts  here,  that 
is  one  condition  of  your  admission  to  that  world 
of  spotless  purity  and  perfect  bliss.  Heaven  pours 
its  light  around  you,  to  cheer  and  allure  you  to  this 
duty,  and  speaks  to  your  soul  from  out  the  deep 
mysteries  of  its  glories  and  its  joys,  and  says — 
'Uhese  are  the  rewards  of  bringing  every  thought 
into  captivity  unto  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

It  may  be  remarked  from  this  subject,  in  the  first 
place,  that  the  degree  of  one^s  vital  piety  can  be 
accurately  measured  by  the  extent  to  which  he 
habitually  governs  his  thoughts.     Without  some 


SERMON  IX.  219 

control  over  his  own  thoughts,  he  can  have  no  rea- 
sonable claim  to  any  religion,  even  as  "a  grain  of 
mustard  seed."  It  is  preposterous  to  speak  of  that 
man's  piety  who  habitually  yields  his  mind  to  any 
trains  of  thought  that  may  chance  to  offer.  "The 
thought  of  foolishness  is  sin;"  and  he  who  sins  ha- 
bitually, even  in  thought,  "  is  of  the  devil." 

If  the  right  government  of  our  thoughts  be  the 
main  instrument  in  forming  a  right  moral  character 
and  directing  a  proper  course  of  action — if  it  deliver 
us  from  the  secret  violence  of  sinful  passions,  and 
fortify  us  against  outward  temptation — if  it  give  us 
that  relish  in  religious  duties  which  makes  them  our 
delight,  and  makes  the  administration  of  divine  ordi- 
nances available  for  our  edification — and  if  it  ad- 
vance us  in  the  divine  life,  and  fit  us  for  heaven, 
then  is  it  not  evident  that  the  extent  to  which  a 
man  habitually  exercises  such  a  government  over 
his  thoughts  is  precisely  the  measure  of  all  the  re- 
ligion that  he  has?  Think  of  this,  ye  professing 
Christians  who  know  nothing  of  the  painful  strug- 
gle and  the  successful  effort  of  governing  your  se- 
cret thoughts!  Your  outward  observances,  your 
ostentatious  activity,  your  Jehu-like  zeal,  and  all 
the  noise  and  turmoil  of  your  benevolent  enter- 
prises must  pass  for  naught  while  you  neglect  to 
keep  your  own  hearts  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of 
the7n  "are  the  issues  of  life,"  and  of  all  the  living 
piety  credibly  exhibited  in  the  world.  You  have 
not  one  particle  more  of  real,  true  religion  than 
you  have  of  habitual  right  government  over  your 
thoughts.  ITie  latter  is  the  perfect  guage  of  the 
former;  and  by  this  measure  ought  you,  before 


220  SERMON  IX. 

God,  to  examine  your  hearts,  and  decide  how  much 
vital  piety  you  possess  to-day. 

I  may  remark  from  this  subject,  in  the  second 
place,  that  at  present  there  is  a  noticeable  tendency 
amongst  professors  of  religion  to  undervalue  its 
importance,  and  neglect  the  duty  of  a  rigid  go- 
vernment of  the  thoughts.  In  our  day  there  is  a 
very  strong  determination  of  religion  to  the  mere 
surface.  Things  that  are  palpable — that  can  be  re- 
cognised by  the  senses — that  can  be  weighed  or 
measured,  and  whose  immediate  utility  can  be 
known  and  appreciated,  alone  seem  to  be  capable 
of  interesting  the  minds  of  the  majority  of  men. 
We  can  see  the  influence  of  this  spirit  of  the  age 
on  religion.  It,  too,  is  becoming  a  mere  outward 
thing,  that  has  no  deep  root  in  the  secrets  of  the 
soul — no  spiritual  conflicts — no  wrestlings  with  the 
angel  of  the  covenant  in  the  night  of  our  sorrows 
and  our  fears.  It  would  seem  to  be  degenerating 
into  a  kind  of  sacred  phantasmagoria,  dazzling  and 
astounding  to  a  superficial  generation.  We  have 
our  great  benevolent  societies  and  auxiliary  socie- 
ties, associations  and  sub-associations,  splendid  me- 
thods of  charitable  contribution,  protracted  meet- 
ings and  public  services,  and  a  vast  and  complicated 
religious  machinery,  which,  by  the  very  magnifi- 
cence of  its  movements,  is  drawing  off*  the  attention 
of  Christians  from  the  still  more  important  and 
wonderful,  though  silent  and  secret  machinery  and 
movements  of  their  own  busy,  thinking  spirits.  Let 
me  not  be  misunderstood  here.  I  bid  a  cordial  God 
speed  to  every  well  organized  institution — to  every 
public  meeting  and  service  that  will  tend  to  the  dif' 


SERMON  IX.  221 

fusion  of  the  gospel  and  the  redemption  of  souls. 
But  such  is  the  imperfection  of  even  partially  sanc- 
tified men,  that  this  array  of  external  means,  this 
bustle  and  intensity  of  outward  action,  prove  a  temp- 
tation to  over  estimate  them,  and  undervalue  the  in- 
finitely momentous  duty  of  a  rigid  government  of 
the  thoughts.  And  yet  such  a  government  consti- 
tutes all  the  real  vital  force  that  can  propel  the  out- 
ward machinery  of  religion,  and  guide  its  move- 
ments to  safe  and  glorious  results.  Would  the 
apostle  Paul  ever  have  made  those  splendid  out- 
ward achievements  which  filled  his  wonderful  his- 
tory, had  he  not  first  gained  the  greater  inward  tri- 
umph of  "bringing  every  thought  into  captivity 
unto  the  obedience  of  Christ?"  But  we  have  reason 
to  fear  that  this  duty  is  greatly  neglected  by  pro- 
fessing Christians  in  our  day.  ^^  Action^^^  "action," 
is  the  cry  now;  and  all  very  well,  provided  you  do 
not  understand  and  limit  this  watchword  to  mere 
outward  action.  There  is  another  field  of  severe, 
intense  Christian  action  besides  the  world  around 
you — the  silent,  secret  world  within  you.  It  is 
Acre  that  that  "kingdom  of  God  that  cometh  not 
with  observation  "  is  set  up  and  maintained.  You 
must  govern  well  the  subjects  of  this  inner  world — 
your  own  thoughts — if  you  ever  expect  to  bless,  by 
your  influence  and  overt  action,  the  outer  world  in 
which  you  dwell.  But  how  little  of  that  retire- 
ment— those  seasons  of  fasting  and  secret  prayer,  to 
bring  the  rebellious,  hidden  thoughts  into  subjec- 
tion— those  hours  of  weeping  penitence  and  secluded 
communion  with  God,  spent  for  the  purpose  of  esta- 
blishing a  strict  government  over  the  liabits  of  se- 
19* 


222  SERMON  IX. 

cret  thought,  which  characterized  Christians  in  the 
days  of  Flavel,  Baxter,  and  Howe,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  church  at  present!  These  retired,  unosten- 
tatious, yet  vitally  important  and  essential  exercises 
of  true  religion,  have  been  well  nigh  wholly  aban- 
doned, of  late,  for  the  more  exciting  and  imposing 
external  duties.  Indeed,  ostentatious  activity  and 
strong  public  excitement  seem  to  be  the  great  ele- 
ment in  which  many  professing  Christians  now  live. 
And  I  record  it  with  sorrow,  as  a  sad  sign  of  these 
times,  that  the  services  of  the  pulpit  are  beginning 
to  be  of  a  kind  to  foster  this  perverted  taste,  and  to 
minister  to  the  morbid  craving  for  strong  stimulus 
and  tragic  excitement.  What  an  immense  change 
in  the  style  of  preaching  since  the  days  of  John 
Howe!  A  single  sermon  of  his  contains  enough  of 
solid,  deep  thought  to  be  diluted  with  the  pathetic 
and  interspersed  with  anecdotes,  so  as  to  make  about 
twenty  such  sermons  as  are  common  and  quite  too 
popular  in  our  day !  Indeed,  a  sermon  full  of  truth, 
consisting  of  a  well  digested,  logical  train  of  dense 
thought,  is  considered  at  present  a  very  tame  af- 
fair; especially  if  it  be  written^  and  thus  save  the 
preacher  from  "  wandering  in  endless  mazes  lost," 
and  from  the  temptation  to  make  up  in  noise  and 
froth  what  he  lacks  in  connexion  and  sense. 

Now,  my  hearers,  this  is  all  wrong.  Such  an  in- 
fluence from  the  mere  outside  of  religion,  and  such 
a  style  of  preaching  as  I  have  hinted  at,  are  fast  rob- 
bing us  of  the  very  inclination,  the  power  and  the 
facilities  of  governing  our  thoughts.  If  we  are  to 
have  a  deeper,  more  steadily  advancing,  and  perma- 
nent piety  in  the  church,  we  must  give  to  the  closet, 


SERMON  IX.  .823 

the  Bible,  meditation,  and  retired  communion  with 
God,  more  time  and  attention;  and  by  these  helps 
establish  and  maintain  a  strict  government  over  our 
secret  thoughts.  We  must  not  only  "endure  sound 
doctrine,"  but  learn  to  relish  and  love  that  kind  of 
preaching  which  will  tax  our  minds  as  well  as  our 
hearts,  and  urge  us  to  think  and  examine  as  well 
as  to  feel  and  weep.  No  man  prizes  more  than  I 
do  the  warm  gush  of  religious  feeling.  To  me 
there  is  an  ineffable  tenderness,  a  celestial  beauty, 
in  the  tears  of  a  penitent,  pardoned  soul  at  its  devo- 
tions. But  religious  feeling,  be  it  remembered,  is 
valuable  only  just  so  far  as  it  results  from  intelli- 
gent views  of  God's  truth,  and  bursts  from  a  heart 
that  is  daily  aiming  to  bring  every  thought  into 
captivity  unto  the  obedience  of  Christ. 

Finally. — This  subject  is  of  infinite  impor- 
tance to  the  young,  who  are  just  commencing 
their  Christian  course.  My  youthful  hearers  of 
this  class,  it  is  for  your  sakes  mainly  that  I  have 
laboured  carefully,  and,  I  trust,  faithfully,  to  discuss 
this  momentous  topic.  Oh  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
may  impress  on  your  souls  to-day  a  deep  conviction 
of  the  importance  of  beginning  at  once  to  govern 
your  thoughts.  What  precious  facilities  you  have 
for  this  great  work!  You  have  no  inveterate  habits 
of  mind  to  be  overcome  as  a  hinderance  to  3^our  com- 
mencement of  this  duty.  Your  associations  and 
trains  of  thought  on  many  subjects  are  not  )'et 
formed  and  rigidly  fixed.  You  have  all  the  ardour 
of  youthful  feeling,  the  buoyancy  of  youthful  hope, 
and  the  fervour  of  your  "first  love"  to  fire  your 
high  resolve,  and  carry  you  with  impetus  into  tliis 


224  SERMON  IX. 

most  important  department  of  action  in  your  reli- 
gious life — the  struggle  to  rule  over  your  own  spi- 
rits. You  have,  as  yet,  none  of  the  dead  weights 
of  backsliding  on  you — no  habits  of  slothful  neglect 
of  3^our  thoughts  yet  established.  Your  minds  are 
still  pliant,  and  capable  of  easy  adjustment  to  any 
task.  They  have  a  fresh,  un wasted,  eager  energy, 
that,  under  God,  can  work  out  the  great  problem  of 
self-government — of  bringing  every  thought  into 
captivity  unto  the  obedience  of  Christ.  Oh,  my 
youthful  hearers,  in  solemn  earnest  and  with  irre- 
versible purpose  begin  this  grand  effort  to-day! 
Through  Christ  strengthening  you,  the  work  is 
practicable — you  can  do  it.  And  permit  me  to  re- 
mind you  that  there  is  not  a  duty  of  your  holy  reli- 
gion on  the  vigorous  performance  of  which  you 
have  so  much  at  stake  as  on  thfs.  You  will  deeply 
feel  the  truth  of  this  remark  when  you  are  more 
advanced  in  years.  How  many  older  Christians, 
were  they  permitted  to  give  vent  now  to  the  emo- 
tions awakened  by  this  part  of  the  subject,  would 
exclaim  from  a  breaking  heart,  "Would  to  God  that 
in  our  early  days,  when  we  began  our  Christian 
course,  we  had  been  instructed  and  admonished  of 
the  supreme  importance  of  this  duty !''  The  forma- 
tion of  your  religious  character — your  course  of  ac- 
tion and  kind  of  influence  on  the  world — your  suc- 
cess and  triumph  in  the  great  battle  with  foes  with- 
out and  foes  within — your  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost — your  steady  progress  in  the  divine 
life — your  preparation  for  all  that  heaven  is  and 
will  be  to  a  redeemed  soul,  and  the  condition  of 
your  final  entrance  into  that  glorious,  eternal  state 


SERMON  IX.  225 

— all  the  mighty  interests  of  your  being  for  immor- 
tality are  to  be  won  or  lost  in  your  victory  or  de- 
feat in  that  tremendous  conflict  by  which  every 
thought  is  to  be  brought  into  captivity  unto  the 
obedience  of  Christ, 


226  SERMON  X. 


SERMON    X. 


"And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  for 
a  witness  unto  all  nations," — Matt.  xxiv.  14. 

The  genius  of  the  gospel  is  essentially  diffusive. 
It  is  adapted  and  was  designed  to  be  the  religion  of 
man.  And  if  any  future  event  can  be  rendered  ab- 
solutely certain,  it  is  the  ultimate  spread  and  intel- 
ligible proclamation  of  the  gospel  to  the  whole 
world.  Independent  of  express  prediction,  this 
might  be  argued  from  the  adaptation  of  the  gospel 
to  the  condition  of  the  entire  human  race,  and  the 
kind  of  witness  it  is  intended  to  bear  for  God  to  the 
whole  world.  Its  ample  provisions  are  suited  to 
the  wants  of  all,  and  sufficiently  munificent  to  meet 
the  direst  exigencies  of  ruined  human  nature  every 
where.  "  It  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  "  the  chief  of  sinners.  He  is  "  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  His 
atoning  blood  cleanseth  from  all  unrighteousness. 
His  power  and  grace  are  illimitable.  His  divine 
compassion  impartial.  The  administration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  applies  the  purchased  redemp- 
tion, is  efficient  and  glorious,  adapted  to  gather  all 
nations  under  its  unseen,  yet  almighty  energies. 
The  change  of  moral  character  which  the  gospel 


SERMON  X.  227 

effects — the  tragic  woes  which  it  relieves — the  joys 
it  confers,  and  the  hopes  it  inspires,  are  equally  in- 
teresting to  fallen  human  nature,  in  every  variety  of 
physical  condition,  or  in  any  possible  locality  on  the 
face  of  the  globe.  Why  then  should  it  not  be 
preached  in  all  the  world?  It  is  equally  ''glad 
tidings  ''  to  all  nations  and  kindreds,  and  tongues, 
and  people  under  heaven.  Its  very  nature  includes 
its  prospective  universality.  And  if  God  has  made 
nothing  in  vain,  then  has  he  not  given  the  gospel 
this  character  of  amplitude  and  universal  adapted- 
ness  to  the  whole  lost  race  of  man,  without  the  de- 
sign that  it  shall  yet  be  preached  in  all  the  world. 
This  design  is  equally  evident  also  from  the  kind 
of  testimony  or  witness  for  God  which  the  gospel  is 
adapted  to  bear.  It  glorifies  his  eternal  love  for  the 
lost  and  the  guilty.  It  testifies  to  his  infinite  com- 
passion for  self-destroyed  man.  It  shows  at  what  a 
sacrifice  he  provided  redemption  for  the  ruined  and 
the  hopeless.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son, that  whosoever  believeth 
on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
The  atonement,  which  is  the  great  central  fact  in 
this  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  testifies  most  impres- 
sively to  God's  ineffable  abhorrence  of  sin,  his  de- 
termination to  punish  it,  and  to  sustain  inviolate 
his  righteous  law,  and  promote  the  interests  of  holi- 
ness in  his  empire,  while  at  the  same  time  it  shows 
a  mercy  that  yearns  and  stoops  by  an  expedient  so 
grand  and  avvful,  to  save  the  miserable  dying  sinner. 
Now  if  it  be  important  that  this  august  disclosure 
of  God's  character  in  the  gospel  be  made  to  any,  is 
it  not  equally  important  that  ultimately  it  should  be 


228  SERMON  X. 

made  to  all  oi  the  human  race?  If  this  witness 
which  the  gospel  bears  to  the  eternal  love  of  God 
in  the  gift  of  his  Son — to  his  holiness,  justice  and 
truth — to  his  compassion  for  the  guilty  and  mise- 
rable— to  the  provisions  he  has  made  for  their  rescue 
from  all  the  woes  of  their  apostacy,  and  their  eleva- 
tion to  all  the  joys  and  exalted  destinies  of  the  re- 
deemed in  heaven — if  it  be  important  that. such  a 
testimony  should  be  borne  for  God  to  any  nation 
under  heaven,  is  it  not  equally  important  that  it 
should  be  borne  in  behalf  of  their  common  Sovereign 
and  Proprietor,  to  all  nations?  Yea,  obviously. 
And  to  put  it  beyond  the  pale  of  doubt  or  contro- 
versy, the  truth  of  God  stands  pledged  in  the  pre- 
diction of  our  text,  that  "  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  for  a  witness 
imto  all  nations."  Now  as  God  has  indicated  his 
purpose  to  accomplish  this  stupendous  result  mainly 
by  human  instrumentality,  and  as  the  command  to 
go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  eve^^y 
creature,  rests  imperatively  on  the  church  at  present, 
it  becomes  us  to  look  carefully  over  the  whole  field, 
and  see  if  any  considerable  portion  of  it  has  hitherto 
been  almost  entirely  neglected. 

With  the  moral  map  of  this  apostate  world,  in  its 
lights  and  shadowsoflife  and  death  before  us,  let  us  fix 
our  eye  on  the  vast  continent  of  Africa,  and  survey 
with  Christian  compassion  its  "  horror  of  great  dark- 
ness !"  It  shall  be  the  object  of  this  discourse  to 
direct  your  attention  to  this  portion  of  the  globe  as 
a  field  for  Christian  missions — a  part  of  the  "  whole 
world,"  where  "  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  "  \syet 
to  he  preached.     That  Africa  has  claims  upon  the 


SKRMON  X.  229 

sympathies,  the  charities,  the  prayers,  and  evange- 
lical etTorts  of  Christendom,  will  be  manifest  from 
the  following  considerations: 

I.  I  need  hardly  remark  that  Africa  is  a  large 
part  of  that  world  which  the  Saviour  died  to  re- 
deem. It  constitutes  about  one-fifth  of  the  habitable 
surface  of  our  earth.  Portions  of  it  are  richly  blest 
WMth  the  munificent  gifts  of  a  bounteous  Providence, 
teeming  with  the  luxuriant  products  of  a  tropical 
climate,  and  capable  of  sustaining  a  dense  population, 
with  all  the  physical  resources  necessary  to  an  ad- 
vanced state  of  civilization.  The  number  of  its  in- 
habitants has  been  variously  estimated  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  even  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty  millions  ! 

By  some  it  is  thought  that  that  continent  embraces 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  entire  population  of  this  guilty 
world.  If  these  estimates  only  approximate  the 
actual  number,  or  if  they  considerably  exceed  it, 
in  either  case  the  fact  of  a  large  population  is  esta- 
blished. One  hundred  and  twenty,  or  one  hundred 
and  sixty  millions  of  accountable,  immortal  spirits 
revolted  from  God — ruined  by  sin — under  sentence 
of  condemnation — the  wrath  of  God  abiding  upon 
them — the  gloom  and  the  woes  of  the  apostac}^  their 
sad  inheritance,  and  yet  not  excluded  by  any  arbi- 
trary decree  from  the  compassion  of  that  God  who 
hath  made  us  all  of  one  blood,  and  with  whom  there 
is  no  respect  of  persons,  nor  from  the  universality  of 
the  calls  and  offers  of  that  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
which  shall  yet  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  as  a 
witness  unto  all  nations.  Is  not  Africa  then  a  part, 
and  a  large  part  of  that  world  for  which  God  gave 
20 


230  SERMON  X. 

his  only  begotten  Son,  and  which  Christ  died  to  re- 
deem ?  Has  it  not  righteous  claims  on  the  expan- 
sive and  impartial  charity  of  Christendom  ?  By 
what  rule  shall  India,  and  China,  and  the  South  Sea 
Islands  engross  so  much  sympathy,  receive  so  much 
of  life,  labour,  prayer,  liberal  contributions,  and  per- 
severing evangelical  effort,  while  bleeding  Africa  is 
w^ell  nigh  excluded  ?  Is  it  not  time  for  the  Chris- 
tian world  to  awake  to  her  long  deferred  claims  ? 
Is  it  not  high  time  that  the  angel,  having  the  ever- 
lasting gospel  to  preach  to  all  nations,  should  have 
his  flight  directed  to  that  land  of  overspreading  dark- 
ness, and  that  his  trumpet  should  at  last  be  lieard 
above  the  blast  of  the  war-horn,  breaking  the  silence 
of  spiritual  death  that  has  reigned  for  so  many  cen- 
turies there  I 

II.  The  very  darkness  and  deep  degradation  of 
Jifrica  specially  claim  Christian  effort  in  her  be- 
half. Comparatively  little  is  known  of  the  moral 
condition  of  the  interior  of  this  benighted  continent. 
Commerce  and  the  slave  trade  have  given  us  some 
fearful  disclosures  of  the  state  of  the  native  tribes  on 
the  western  coast.  The  following  is  no  exaggerated 
picture  of  their  condition,  previously  to  the  melio- 
rating influence  exerted  on  them  by  Christian  colo- 
nies: 

"At  our  earliest  dates,  the  natives  were  idolaters 
of  the  grossest  kind,  polygamists,  slave-holders,  slave 
traders,  kidnappers,  ofierers  of  human  sacrifices,  and 
some  of  them  cannibals.  For  four  centuries,  or  five, 
if  we  receive  the  French  account,  they  have  been  in 
habits  of  constant  intercourse  with  the  most  profli- 
gate, tlie  most  licentious,  the  most  rapacious,  and  in 


SERMON  X.  231 

every  respect  the  vilest  and  most  corrupting  classes 
of  men  to  be  found  in  the  civilized  world, — with 
slave  traders,  most  of  whom  were  pirates  in  every 
thing  but  courage,  and  many  of  whom  committed 
piracy  whenever  they  dared, — and  with  pirates  in 
the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  By  this  intercourse, 
the  natives  were  constantly  stimulated  to  crimes  of 
the  deepest  dye,  and  thoroughly  trained  to  all  the 
vices  of  civilization  which  savages  are  capable  of 
learning.  During  the  most  fearful  predominance  of 
undisguised  piracy,  from  16SS  to  1730,  their  demo- 
ralization went  on,  especially  upon  the  Windward 
Coast,  more  rapidly  than  ever  before,  and  became 
so  intense,  that  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  trading 
houses  on  shore;  so  that,  on  this  account,  as  we  are 
expressly  informed,  in  1730,  there  was  not  a  single 
European  factory  on  that  whole  coast.  Trade  was 
then  carried  on  by  ships  passing  along  the  coast,  and 
stopping  wherever  the  natives  kindled  a  fire  as  a 
signal  for  traffic.  And  this  continued  to  be  the  usual 
mode  of  intercourse  on  that  coast,  when  the  British 
Parliament,  in  1791,  began  to  collect  evidence  con- 
cerning the  slave  trade.'^ 

About  twenty-five  years  ago  the  lamented  Ash- 
mun,  from  his  own  personal  observation,  gives  the 
following  graphic  and  appalling  sketch  of  the  con- 
dition of  that  portion  of  the  western  coast  now  called 
Liberia: 

"The  two  slaving  stations  of  Cape  Mount  and 
Cape  Mesurado  have,  for  several  ages,  desolated  of 
every  thing  valuable  the  intervening  very  fertile 
and  beautiful  tract  of  country.  The  forests  have  re- 
mained untouched,  all  moral  virtue  has  been  extin- 


232  SERMON  X. 

guished  in  the  people,  and  their  industry  annihilated, 
by  this  one  ruinous  cause.  Polygamy  and  domestic 
slavery,  it  is  well  known,  are  as  universal  as  the 
scanty  means  of  the  people  will  permit.  And  a  li- 
centiousness of  practice  which  none — not  the  worst 
part  of  any  civilized  community  on  earth — can  pa- 
rallel, gives  a  hellish  consummation  to  the  frightful 
deformity  imparted  by  sin  to  the  moral  aspect  of 
these  tribes." 

The  superstitions  and  idolatry  of  the  natives  are 
of  the  most  gross,  degrading,  and  revolting  kind. 
They  believe  in  witchcraft,  and  are  haunted  with  agi- 
tating apprehensions  and  terrors  respecting  a  mys- 
terious, unseen,  and  yet  irresistible  power  of  evil 
to  health  and  life,  wielded  by  the  charm  and  incanta- 
tion of  others.  They  worship  sharks  and  snakes,  and 
the  horrid  fetish  tree,  or  Devil-bush,  and  have  nu- 
merous sottish  rites,  and  cruel  and  sanguinary  orgies. 
And  when  under  the  galling  burden  of  this  system, 
life  at  last  is  worn  out,  its  close  is  often  signalized 
by  a  burial  of  the  dead  fraught  with  atrocious  bar- 
barity and  tragic  horrors.  Indeed,  the  ceremony  of 
sepulture  is  generally  the  true  index  of  the  degree 
of  civilization,  and  the  state  of  morals  amongst  a 
people.  The  following  description  of  an  African 
funeral  was  given  by  one  who  personally  witnessed 
the  scene  which  he  portrays,  and  the  credibility  of 
which  is  amply  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  others 
who  have  witnessed  similar  and  even  more  shock- 
ing scenes: 

"  *  The  captain  or  chief  of  a  village  dying  of  a  hard 
drinking  bout  of  brandy,  the  cries  of  his  wives  im- 
mediately spread  the  news  through  the  town.     All 


SER.MON  X.  233 

the  women  ran  there  and  howled  like  furies.  The 
favourite  wife  distinguished  herself  by  her  grief, 
and  not  without  cause.  She  was  watched  by  the 
other  women  to  prevent  her  escape.  The  Marbut, 
or  priest,  examined  the  body,  and  pronounced  the 
death  natural — not  the  effect  of  witchcraft.  Then 
followed  washing  the  body,  and  carrying  it  in  pro- 
cession through  the  village,  with  tearing  of  the  hair, 
howling,  and  other  frantic  expressions  of  grief. 
During  this,  the  Marbut  made  a  grave,  deep  and 
large  enough  to  hold  two  bodies.  lie  also  stripped 
and  skinned  a  goat.  The  pluck  served  to  make  a 
ragout,  of  which  he  and  the  assistants  ate.  He  also 
caused  the  favourite  wife  to  eat  some,  who  had  no 
great  inclination  to  taste  it,  knowing  it  was  to  be 
her  last.  She  ate  some,  however,  and  during  this 
repast,  the  body  of  the  goat  was  divided  in  small 
pieces,  broiled  and  eaten.  The  lamentations  began 
again;  and  when  the  Marbut  thought  it  was  time  to 
end  the  ceremony,  he  took  the  favourite  wife  by  the 
arms,  and  delivered  her  to  two  stout  negroes.  These, 
seizing  her  roughly,  tied  her  hands  and  feet  behind 
her,  and  laying  her  on  her  back,  placed  a  piece  of 
w^ood  on  her  breast.  Then,  holding  each  other  with 
their  hands  on  their  shoulders,  they  stamped  with 
their  feet  on  the  piece  of  wood,  till  they  had  broken 
the  woman's  breast.  Having  thus  at  least  half  de- 
spatched her,  they  threw  her  into  the  grave,  with 
the  remainder  of  the  goat,  casting  her  husband's 
body  over  her,  and  filling  up  the  grave  with  earth 
and  stones.  Immediately,  the  cries  ceasing,  a  quick 
silence  succeeded  the  noise,  and  every  one  retired 
home  as  quietly  as  if  nothing  had  happened.'" 
'20^ 


234  SERMON  X. 

Now  this  is  by  no  means  an  extreme  case;  as  the 
individual  who  died  in  this  instance  was  but  a  petty- 
civil  functionary,  and  therefore,  according  to  usage, 
it  was  not  necessary  that  so  great  a  display  should 
be  made  as  though  he  had  held  a  more  exalted  office. 
Authentic  history  records  that  on  the  death  of  one 
of  the  kings  of  the  Aikims,  (a  tribe  located  not  far 
from  the  British  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,)  his  people 
sacrificed  at  his  tomb  his  prime  minister,  three 
hundred  and  thirty-six  of  his  ivives,  and  upwards 
of  ONE  THOUSAND  of  his  slttvcs ! !  The  object  of 
this  wholesale  immolation  of  human  oeings  was,  that 
the  king  might  be  furnished  with  a  suitable  re- 
tinue— one  befitting  royalty — in  the  future  world, 
on  which  he  had  entered. 

The  most  horrible  fact  in  these  funeral  sacrifices, 
is,  that  the  victims  are  buried  alive,  their  limbs 
being  all  broken,  and  they  thrown  into  open  graves, 
where  they  linger  in  great  agony  through  the  peri- 
od of  the  dances,  processions,  and  music  around 
them,  which  forms  part  of  the  ceremony,  and  some- 
times continue  during  the  whole  of  two  days!!'' 
Such  is  a  faint  sketch  of  the  darkness  of  Africa,  un- 

*  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  from  thuiy  to  fifty  millions  of  slaves 
in  Africa,  all  of  whose  lives  are  at  the  mercy  of  their  owners,  and  any 
of  whom  may  share  the  fate  of  those  just  described,  should  they  happen 
to  belong  even  to  a  petty  captain  or  chief  of  a  village.  This,  surely,  is 
the  most  direful  form  of  davery.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  some  oi  our 
prominent  Christian  philanthropists  to  turn  their  attention  to  slavery  ia 
Africa,  and  ask  themselves  before  God  and  conscience,  how  much  their 
zeal  has  done,  or  how  much  they  have  prayed  or  purposed  to  do,  for  tlie 
abolition  of  this  system  of  slavery,  fraught  as  it  is,  with  a  thousandfold 
more  horrors,  and  embracing  from  ten  to  twenty  times  more  in  num 
bers,  than  the  system  which  has  hitherto  exhausted  all  their  energies  and 
resources  of  head,  heart,  and  pocket. 


SERMON   X.  235 

happy,  almost  unpiticd,  Africa.  Now,  docs  this 
dense  gloom  of  pagan  night  that  shrouds  her  and 
these  demons  of  pagan  superstition  that  prowl  be- 
neath its  starless  canopy,  deter  from  Christian  ef- 
fort in  her  behalf?  No.  "The  whole  need  not  a 
physician,  but  they  that  arc  sick."  Her  sombre 
shadows  have  a  silent  eloquence,  more  powerful 
than  words,  that  calls  imperiously  for  effort  to  shed 
upon  them  the  light  of  life.  To  the  pure  and 
piercing  vision  of  a  Saviour's  omniscience,  every 
part  of  this  guilty  world  once  looked  more  dark  and 
dismal  than  does  Africa  now  to  the  Christian's  eye. 
But  this  stayed  not  his  embassy  of  love.  Yearning 
with  infinite  compassion,  he  made  his  cheerful  ad- 
vent amidst  the  gloom,  and  became  "  the  light  of  the 
world."  The  gross  darkness  which  covered  all 
people,  proved  only  a  more  powerful  incentive  to 
his  active  pity.  And  so  the  unbroken  cloud  of  Af- 
rica's paganism  and  superstition,  the  barriers  of  ig- 
norance, and  the  great  gulfs  which  separate  her 
hapless  children  from  civilization, science,  and  Chris- 
tianity, make  an  irresistible  appeal  to  our  sympa- 
thies, and  demand  our  failh,  patience,  prayer,  hope, 
liberality,  and  persevering  exertions  for  the  regene- 
ration of  that  ill-starred  continent. 

Iir.  The  wrongs  and  ills  which  its  inhabitants 
have  suffered  from  the  civilized  world,  demand 
no  less  redress  than  sending  the  gospel  to  */ifrica. 

For  centuries  the  history  of  the  African  race  has 
been  one  of  mournful  and  tragic  interest,  and  their 
sad  destinies  a  profound  mystery,  in  the  righteous 
providence  of  God  over  the  world.  The  slave  trade, 
with  all    its  direct  and  collateral   miseries  and  de- 


236  SERMON  X. 

vastations,  with  its  fiendish  rapacity,  piracy,  and 
enormous  vices,  has  been  plied  on  the  devoted  in- 
habitants of  Africa  with  an  industry  that  has  never 
tired  nor  paused,  and  a  cruel  cupidity  that  has  never 
relented,  for  the  last  four  or  five  hundred  years. 
Millions  of  her  unoffending  children  have  been  torn 
from  her  bosom  amidst  circumstances  that  give  to 
separation  its  most  poignant  agony.  They  have 
been  made  the  servants  of  servants  in  every  land  of 
their  dispersion.  Doomed  to  returnless  exile,  and 
bound  to  perpetual  servitude,  they  have  worn  out 
their  lives  in  unrequited  toil,  in  an  unwearied  and 
joyless  industry,  for  the  interests  of  those  who  ori- 
ginally stole  them,  and  the  accomplices  who  im- 
posed on  them  the  galling  and  permanent  bonds  of 
their  slavery.  Nor  do  the  millions  exiled,  dispersed, 
and  hopelessly  enslaved  for  life,  form  the  only 
figures  in  the  dark  picture  of  Africa's  wrongs  and 
ills.  To  say  nothing  of  the  inconceivable  horrors 
of  "the  middle  passage"  in  the  slave  ships,  the  enor- 
mous mortality  and  maddening  suicide  of  the  vic- 
tims on  their  pathway  over  the  deep  to  the  land  of 
their  bondage,  yet  the  very  mode  of  obtaining  slaves 
in  Africa,  presents  an  aggregation  of  hellish  outrages 
upon  human  nature,  which  no  language  can  ade- 
quately portray.  To  assist  you  in  approaching  to- 
wards some  just  conceptions  of  the  egregious  wrongs 
and  injuries  inflicted  by  this  infernal  traffic,  I  will 
now  give  you  a  description,  written  by  an  eye  wit- 
ness, of  the  manner  of  obtaining  slaves  to  meet  a 
certain  demand  in  the  market.  The  writer  remarks: 
"The  following  incident  I  relate,  not  for  its  sin- 
gularity, for  similar  events  take  place,  perhaps,  every 


SERMON  X.  237 

month  in  the  year;  but  because  it  has  fallen  under 
my  own  observation,  and  I  can  vouch  for  its  au- 
thenticity. King  Boatswain  received  a  quantity  of 
goods  in  trade  from  a  French  slaver,  for  which  he 
stipulated  to  pay  young  slaves.  He  makes  it  a  point 
of  honour  to  be  punctual  to  his  engagements  The 
time  was  at  hand  when  he  expected  the  return  of 
the  slaver.  He  had  not  the  slaves.  Looking  round 
on  the  peaceable  tribes  about  him,  for  his  victims, 
he  singled  out  the  Queahs,  a  small  agricultural  and 
trading  people,  of  most  inoffensive -character.  His 
warriors  were  skilfully  distributed  to  the  different 
hamlets,  and  making  a  simultaneous  assault  on  the 
sleeping  occupants  in  thedeadof  night,accomplished, 
without  difficulty  or  resistance,  the  annihilation, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  towns,  of  the  whole 
tribe.  Every  adult,  man  and  woman,  was  murdered ; 
very  young  children  generally  shared  the  fate  of 
their  parents;  the  boys  and  girls  alone  were  re- 
served to  pay  the  Frenchman." 

I  know,  that  by  a  law  of  mind,  great  local  dis- 
tance diminishes  our  sympathy  and  interest  in  the 
most  appalling  events  that  occur  in  the  history 
of  suffering  humanity.  But  let  us  divest  the  scene 
just  described  of  distance,  and  bring  it  home  in  our 
imaginings  to  one  of  our  neighbouring  villages.  Let 
us  also  divest  it  of  distance  in  time,  and  suppose  our- 
selves standing  the  next  morning  the  actual  specta- 
tors of  the  results  of  the  horrid  tragedy  enacted  there 
the  night  before!  What  would  be  our  impressions? 
And  did  we  associate  similar  events  as  occurring  in 
other  villages  and  hamlets  throughout  our  country, 
perhaps,  every  month  in  the  year,  how  appalling 


238  SERMON  X. 

would  our  own  existence  itself  become  to  us  in  such 
circumstances!!  Now,  all  these  wrongs  and  out- 
rages above  described,  are  not  the  less  real  and  grie- 
vous, the  suffering  has  no  less  of  depth  and  intensity, 
because  their  locality  lies  beyond  the  Atlantic  in 
the  land  of  the  palm  tree,  and  the  sufferers  are  dis- 
tinguished from  us  by  the  hues  of  their  skin. 

It  deserves  special  notice  here,  also,  that  most  of 
those  savage,  sanguinary,  and  exterminating  wars 
waged  under  various  pretexts  on  each  other  by  the 
native  tribes,  are,  in  fact,  excited  by  the  desire  of 
obtaining  slaves  for  the  market.  When  you  add  to 
this,  the  introduction  of  intoxicating  drinks  by  the 
slave  traders,  their  example  of  beastly  licentiousness, 
the  teaching  of  all  the  most  intense  vices  of  a  cor- 
rupt civilization  which  savages  could  learn,  and  the 
constant  stimulus  which  their  intercourse  with  them, 
brought  upon  the  worst  passions  of  barbarous  human 
nature,  you  have  a  picture  of  wrongs  and  ills  un- 
paralleled in  the  annals  of  our  world!  And  who 
has  inflicted  this  outrageous  and  overgrown  aggre- 
gate of  injuries  on  Africa  ?  Professedly  Christian 
nations!  Yes,  the  Lion  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
Eagle  of  America,  formerly  crouching  and  perching 
over  the  deck  of  the  slave  ships,  as  they  bore  away 
Africa's  sons  and  daughters  to  hopeless  bondage. 
Does  not  Christendom  oive  a  mighty  debt  to  that 
despoiled,  bereaved  land?  Like  Rachel  weeping 
for  her  children,  and  refusing  to  be  comforted,  be- 
cause they  are  not;  does  not  Africa's  voice  of  la- 
mentation cry  to  heaven  against  the  civilized  world, 
and  call  upon  our  common  humanity  for  redress? 
Now,  what  adequate  reparation  can  we  make  for 


SERMON  X.  239 

wrongs,  violence,  and  havoc  of  centuries,  without 
parallel,  and  in  some  respects  irretrievable?  The 
act  of  tardy  justice  in  making  sound  and  stringent 
laws  against  the  slave  trade,  and  in  placing  armed 
squadrons  on  the  coast  to  suppress  this  unnatural 
and  inhuman  commerce  in  souls,  is  no  competent 
requital  for  the  enormous  evils  inflicted  on  Africa, 
nor  does  it  form  the  efficient  instrumentality  by 
which  those  evils  are  ultimately  to  be  removed. 
No.  We  must  send  her  "  the  glorious  gospel  of  the 
blessed  God."  This  is  the  redress  which  the  elo- 
quence of  Africa's  wo  pleads  for,  and  claims  at  our 
hands.  It  is  the  only  adequate,  infallible  remedy, 
for  the  gigantic  evils  under  which  she  groans.  Ex- 
periment is  beginning  to  teach  this  obvious,  but 
hitherto  overlooked,  truth.  The  British  Parliament 
has  been  petitioned  to  discontinue  an  armed  force 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  on  the  ground 
that  the  evils  of  the  traffic  have  been  greatly  in- 
creased by  it,  while  it  is  well  known  that  the  num- 
ber of  slaves  annually  shipped  has  not  been  dimi- 
nished. Capt.  Harris,  an  intelligent  English  officer, 
extensively  travelled  in  Africa,  was  sent  there,  spe- 
cially commissioned  by  the  British  government,  to 
investigate  the  matter,  and  report  the  best  method 
of  extinguishing  the  slave  trade.  The  conclusion 
which  he  has  drawn  from  his  personal  knowledge 
and  extensive  observations  on  this  subject,  is,  that 
the  slave  trade  can  never  be  suppressed  ivhile  the 
barbarous  and  pagan  spirit  of  Jlfrica  herself  is 
in  favour  of  it.  The  only  remedy  tliat  he  thinks 
adapted  to  remove  this  evil  permanently,  is  the  ci- 
vilization and  Chris tianization  of  Jifrica  herself 


240  SiCRMON  X, 

Armed  squadrons,  therefore,  have  no  tendency  to 
promote  so  great  a  civil  and  moral  transformation  on 
Africa,  as  are  here  contemplated.  The  Christian 
philosopher  needs  not  be  informed  that  the  combined 
armadas  of  the  world  can  never  cure  this,  nor  any- 
other  of  the  giant  crimes  and  woes  of  the  apostacy. 
We  must  take  Heaven's  infallible  panacea,  ^'this 
gospel  of  the  kingdoTn,''  in  all  its  benign  and 
blessed  influences  on  man's  mortal  and  immortal 
interests  and  destinies.  This  is  Africa's  only  hope 
of  a  radical  remedy,  as  it  is  that  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  world  that  lieth  in  wickedness.  It  is  a  growing 
conviction,  even  in  irreligious  minds,  that  if  Africa 
is  to  be  saved  from  the  perpetual  desolations  of 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade,  it  must  be  by  pervading 
her  w^ith  the  institutions  of  civilization  and  Christi- 
anity. 

Let  the  Christian  world,  then,  awake  and  put 
forth  an  earnest,  persevering  effort  to  cancel  some 
of  its  guilt  in  heretofore  afflicting  Africa,  by  send- 
ing to  her  the  glorious  gospel  in  its  divine  power, 
to  pull  down  the  strong  holds  of  sin  and  Satan,  and, 
in  its  sweet,  assuaging  influence  on  the  barbarous 
passions  of  human  nature,  calming  and  purifying 
the  fountains  of  domestic,  social,  and  political  life, 

till 

"  Lions  and  beasts  of  savage  name 
Put  on  the  nature  of  the  lamb." 

IV.  The  long  neglect  of  the  Christian  tvorld  to 
do  any  thing  efficiently  for  the  evangelization  of 
j3frica,  gives  her  an  urgent  claim  upon  its  spe- 
cial efforts  now.  By  what  fatality  the  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 


lEHMON  k.  .241 

of  that  darkened  continent  have  been  so  long,  and 
to  such  an  extent,  excluded  from  the  sympathies  and 
effective  evangelical  efforts  of  Christendom,  is  one 
of  the  most  unaccountable  facts  in  the  history  of 
Christian  benevolence.  The  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  have  between 
five  and  six  hundred  missionaries  and  assistant  mis- 
sionaries amongst  the  heathen.  Of  this  entire  num- 
ber but  about  twenty  are  located  on  the  whole  con- 
tinent of  Africa,  and  the  date  of  their  labours  there 
is  quite  recent.  There  are  eighty-eight  missiona- 
ries and  assistants  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the 
whole  population  of  which  is  but  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand — not  one  thousand  to  every  mil- 
lion in  Africa.  It  is  true,  the  striking  mortality 
amongst  ivhite  missionaries  in  that  country  has  im- 
posed a  necessity  of  hesitating  to  risk  life  on  a  large 
scale  there.  But  the  providence  of  God  for  twenty- 
five  years  past  has  demonstrated  that  the  civilized, 
Christian  coloui^ed  man  of  this  country  can  live  and 
labour  for  God,  and  for  the  souls  of  his  pagan  bre- 
thren, in  his  father  land.  And  yet  the  Christian 
world  has  slept  over  the  moral  ruins,  the  madden- 
ing woes,  and  the  mournful  destinies  of  the  immor- 
tal rnillions  in  Africa,  wrapt  in  golden  dreams  re- 
specting the  great  things  being  done  for  Greece,  In- 
dia, China,  Persia,  and  the  islands  of  the  Southern 
Ocean.  Now,  may  not  "the  time  past  suffice"  to 
have  wrought  this  folly  and  incurred  this  guilt  of 
shutting  up  our  tender  mercies  from  the  most  op- 
pressed, wronged,  injured,  outraged,  helpless,  and 
deplorable  portion  of  the  pagan  world  ?  Do  not  our 
delay  and  slumbers  give  a  startling  cm]ihasis  to  tlie 
21 


242  SERMON  X. 

truth  "that  now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of 
sleep '' — to  "  cast  ofT  the  works  of  darkness,  and 
put  on  the  armour  of  light"— to  bear  the  banner  of 
the  cross,  with  its  "  seven  stars,"  to  benighted  Afri- 
ca— and  to  spring  forward  and  reach  forth  our  hands 
to  hold  up  those  which  Ethiopia  has  already  stretched 
out  unto  God? 

V.  and  Lastly. —  The  encouragement  to  evan- 
gelical effort  which   the  providence  of  God  in 
planting  and  sustaining  civilized  and  Christian 
colonies  on  the  coast  now  affords,  gives  Jifrica  a 
peculiar  claim  on  the  active  benevolence  of  the 
Christian  world.     It  is  admitted  that  till  within  a 
comparatively  recent  period  serious,  if  not  insupera- 
ble obstacles  were  to  be  encountered  in  the  prose- 
cution of  Christian  missions  in  Africa.     During  the 
last  four  centuries  numerous  and  repeated  attempts 
have  been  made,  both  by  Roman  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant missionaries,  to  establish  themselves  on  the 
western  coast,  and  to  locate  permanently  there  the 
institutions  of  Christianity.     But  all  such  attempts 
proved  utterly  abortive  till  the  era  of  the  establish- 
ment of  civilized  colonies.     This  is  a  matter  of  un- 
doubted historical  fact.     That  state  of  intense  vice 
and  sanguinary  barbarism  which,  till  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  rendered  it  impossible  to  maintain 
trading  factories  on  the  shore,  and  that  made  it  un- 
safe even  to  land  a  merchant-ship  there,  would  ne- 
cessarily  involve  perils  to  life  and  property  too 
formidable  to  be  permanently  encountered  by  any 
degree  of  missionary  zeal  and  courage.     The  self- 
ishness and  dishonesty,  the  treachery  and  rapacity, 
the  turbulent  spirit  and  savage  cruelty  of  the  na- 


SERMON  X.  243 

lives,  involved  as  they  constantly  were  in  extermi- 
nating wars  with  each  other,  presented  invincible 
and  hopeless  barriers  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel 
of  peace  amongst  them.  It  was  not  surprising, 
therefcu'e,  that,  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, with  the  history  of  three  or  four  hundred 
years  of  disaster  and  defeat  to  missions  in  Africa, 
Christendom  should  have  paused  in  partial  despon- 
dency over  her  gloomy  and  appalling  condition! 
But  since  that  time  the  providence  of  God  has 
fringed  the  edge  of  that  dark  cloud  which  then 
overhung  her  with  some  rays  of  golden  light.  The 
divine  hand  and  counsel  have  been  specially  mani- 
fested in  planting  and  sustaining  civilized  and  Chris- 
tian colonies  along  the  western  coast,  with  all  their 
meliorating  effects  on  the  natives,  and  their  protect- 
ing and  fostering  influence  on  Christian  missions. 

Colonization  is  undeniably  preparing  the  way 
of  the  Lord  in  the  wilderness  of  Africa.  God  would 
seem  to  be  pointing  to  this  enterprise,  by  all  the  re- 
cent facts  in  its  history,  as  His  approved  method  of 
reaching  forth  and  rendering  permanent  an  effective 
evangelical  influence  on  that  long  and  grossly  ne- 
glected land.  The  change  in  the  social,  civil,  and 
religious  condition  of  those  native  tribes  amongst 
whom  colonies  have  been  located  is  well  nigh  in- 
credible. The  following  is  a  brief  but  truthful 
sketch  of  the  colonies,  and  of  what,  under  God,  they 
have  already  effected  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
coloured  race  in  their  own  land.  It  is  from  the  pen 
of  a  sober-minded,  accurate,  reliable  author.  He 
remarks  as  follows: — 

"Every  such  colony  planted,  still  subsists;  and 


244  SERMON  X. 

wherever  its  jurisdiction  extends,  has  banished  pi- 
racy and  the  slave-trade- — extinguished  domestic 
slavery — put  an  end  to  human  sacrifices  and  canni- 
balism— established  a  constitutional  civil  govern- 
ment, trial  by  jury,  and  the  reign  of  law-^intro- 
duced  the  arts,  usages,  and  comforts  of  civilized  life, 
and  imparted  them  to  more  or  less  of  the  natives — 
established  schools,  built  houses  of  worship,  gathered 
churches,  sustained  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  pro- 
tected missionaries,  and  seen  native  converts  received 
to  Christian'  communion.  Not  a  colony  has  been  at- 
tempted without  leading  to  all  these  results. 

"As  witnesses,  we  show,  in  the  colonies  of  Cape 
Palmas,  Liberia  proper,  Sierra  Leone,  and  on  the 
Gambia,  more  than  one  hundred  missionaries  and 
assistant  missionaries,  many  of  them  of  African  de- 
scent, and  some  of  them  native  Africans,  now  en- 
gaged in  successful  labours  for  the  regeneration  of 
Africa.  We  show,  as  the  fruits  of  their  labours,  more 
than  five  thousand  regular  communicants  in  Chris- 
tian churches,  more  than  twelve  thousand  regular 
attendants  on  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  many 
tens  of  thousands  of  natives  perfectly  accessible  to 
missionary  labours.  All  this  has  been  done  since 
the  settlement  of  Sierra  Leone  in  17S7,  and  nearly 
all  since  the  settlement  of  Liberia  in  1822.'' 

In  the  coloiiiesof  Liberia  proper  there  are  twenty- 
three  Christian  churches,  numbering  about  sixteen 
or  seventeen  hundred  communicants;  of  whom  more 
than  Jive  hundred  are  native  converts.  From  ten 
to  fifteen  thousand  of  the  pagan  tribes  have  thrown 
away  the  distinctive  badges  of  their  superstition, 
abandoned  many  of  the  usages  of  savage  life  and  the 


SERMON  X.  2^15 

practice  of  idolatry,  adopted  the  civilized  costume 
of  the  colonists,  come  voluntarily  under  the  colonial 
laws,  and  conformed  to  the  externals  of  civilization 
and  Christianity,  many  of  them  attending  puhlic 
worship  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  colonial  churches. 
Gov.  Roberts,  of  Liberia,  states  that  in  a  tour  of 
more  than  two  hundred  miles  into  the  interior  of 
Africa,  he  found  manifest  traces  of  colonial  influ- 
ence extending  through  the  entire  distance;  that 
there  were  individuals  in  every  place  where  he 
stopped  who  could  speak  the  English  language; 
that  the  chiefs  of  the  different  tribes  through  which 
he  passed  evinced  the  utmost  eagerness  to  have 
schools  established  amongst  them,  in  which  their 
children  might  be  taught  the  knowledge  of  the  arts 
of  civilization  and  the  truths  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, and  that  "  the  head  men  '^  offered  to  erect 
buildings  and  appropriate  lands  for  the  support  of 
these  institutions.  It  is  well  known,  also,  that  the 
sons  of  chiefs,  and  of  other  distinguished  natives, 
have  been  sent  a  distance  of  three  or  four  hundred 
miles  from  the  interior  into  the  colony,  to  be  edu- 
cated. When  they  return  into  the  deep  shadows  of 
their  native  forests,  and  the  deeper  moral  gloom  of 
their  pagan  homes,  they  carry  with  them  the  torch- 
lights of  civilization  and  Christianity,  to  send  some 
cheering  rays  athwart  the  surrounding  and  hitherto 
unbroken  darkness.  Thus  the  providence  of  God, 
by  originating  and  giving  success  to  the  enterprise 
of  colonization,  is  opening  a  new  door  of  hope  to 
despairing  Africa,  and  furnishing  new  facilities  and 
ample  encouragement  to  enlarged  and  vigorous  evan- 
gelic labours  in  her  behalf.  It  may  be  added,  too, 
2r 


246  SERMON  X. 

that  notwithstanding  the  intense  vice  and  savage 
degradation  of  the  natives  on  the  coast,  and  the 
gloomy  and  base  superstition  and  idolatry  of  those 
in  the  interior,  yet  there  are  three  striking  points 
of  encouragement  to  missionary  labour  in  Africa, 
not  found  in  most  other  heathen  countries. 

"  First,  then,  they  have  no  national  religion,  or  re- 
ligious establishment.  Where  this  exists  it  opposes 
a  formidable  obstacle  to  the  gospel,  however  absurd 
may  be  the  superstition  so  established;  for  the  secu- 
lar interests  of  the  priesthood  urge  them  to  resist 
any  change  of  the  national  religion,  and  they  neces- 
sarily possess  great  influence  with  the  people.  The 
missionary  must,  under  such  circumstances,  expect 
to  encounter  hate  and  persecution  proportioned  to 
the  danger  with  which  the  religion  he  teaches  threat- 
ens the  priests. 

"Secondly.  In  Africa  the  kings  and  their  official 
functionaries  lose  no  secular  advantages  by  embracing 
Christianity.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  even  raised 
by  it  in  the  estimation  of  their  heathen  countrymen. 
In  many,  and,  perhaps,  in  nearly  all  other  heathen 
countries,  to  embrace  Christianity  is  to  become  ob- 
noxious to  priestly  revenge,  to  popular  hate  and 
civil  oppression. 

"  Thirdly.  The  Africans  already  look  upon  the 
white  man  as  their  superior,  and  hence  desire  to 
imitate  him.  The  very  ability  to  read  and  write 
gives  dignity  and  importance  to  a  coloured  man 
among  them,  and  they  express  their  admiration  by 
calling  him  a  white  man.  It  would  follow,  of  course, 
that  they  embrace  every  opportunity  to  place  their 
children  in  the  schools  where  it  is  proposed  to  teach 
them  to  read  and  write." 


SERMON  X. 


247 


Such  are  the  encouragements  to  Christian  eflbrt 
for  Africa  which  the  providence  of  God,  especially 
in  estahlishing  and  sustaining  civilized  colonies 
there,  now  presents.  With~so  well  tested  and  prac- 
ticable a  method,  and  with  such  ample  facilities  for 
the  spread  of  the  gospel  as  the  scheme  of  coloniza- 
tion aflbrds,  and  as  the  success  already  attending  it 
demonstrates,  why  should  not  darkened  Africa  soon 
be  made  ''all  light  in  the  Lord?'^  How  can  the 
Christian  world  answer  it  to  God,  or  to  their  suc- 
cessors in  the  church,  if  they  neglect  longer  to  put 
forth  the  most  vigorous  and  persevering  efforts  for 
Africa's  redemption  through  this  medium  of  colo- 
nization, pointed  out  by  the  finger  of  God,  and  sig- 
nalized and  sanctioned  by  a  success  explicable  only 
on  the  assumption  of  his  divine  and  fostering  inter- 
position in  its  behalf?  Shall  the  wretched  inhabi- 
tants continue  to  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death,  and  to  sink  from  it  annually  by  millions  into 
"  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever,''  when  God, 
by  his  providence,  is  demonstrating  that  the  light 
of  life  may  be  radiated  over  the  extent  of  Africa  by 
civilized  and  Christian  colonies  on  her  coast? 

These  are  questions  in  which  you,  my  Christian 
friends,  and  the  whole  Christian  community,  have 
a  deep  personal  interest.  They  relate  to  serious 
matters  involved  in  your  present  duty,  as  individu- 
als, towards  a  large,  injured,  suffering,  hitherto  ne- 
glected portion  of  your  heathen  fellow  men.  God 
has  opened  a  channel  through  which  your  benefi- 
cence can  flow  and  overflow  till  it  shall  have  reached 
the  remotest  wilderness  in  Africa,  and  made  it  to 
bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose.     Will  you  assist  in 


248  SERMON  X. 

keeping  this  channel  open? — and  will  you  augment 
that  stream  which  has  already  well  nigh  covered 
three  hundred  miles  of  once  barren  coast  with  plants, 
and  flowers,  and  fruits  of  righteousness  befitting  the 
garden  of  God?  This  method  of  evangelical  effort, 
feeling  its  way  into  the  darkness  of  Africa,  and  re- 
taining its  foothold  there  through  the  colonies  on 
her  coast,  is  commended  to  the  confidence  of  the 
Christian  world  now  by  its  own  already  realized 
results.  \i  IS  the  only  practicable  ?net hod  as  yet 
discovered  of  furnishing  the  protection  and  facilities 
for  that  augmented  number  of  labourers,  and  those 
extensive  and  permanent  missionary  enterprises  and 
efforts,  which  will  bear  some  just  proportion  to  the 
moral  exigencies  of  that  vast  continent.  It  is  too 
late  now  to  make  it  a  quCvStion  whether  the  success 
of  modern  missions  in  Africa  has  not  been,  under 
God,  mainly  suspended  on  the  direct  and  indirect 
influence  of  these  colonies.  History  has  now  re- 
corded this  as  one  of  her  sober,  indisputable  veri- 
ties. The  fact  that  colonization  has  a  secular  and 
political  aspect  is  no  objection  to  it  as  a  medium 
through  which  to  send  the  blessings  of  civilization 
and  Christianity  to  Africa.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  its  secular  and  political  relations  bear  with  be- 
nign effect  on  the  temporal  interests  and  destinies 
of  the  coloured  people  of  this  country,  and  contem- 
plate their  intellectual,  social,  and  civil  elevation  in 
circumstances  unimpeded  by  prejudice  and  privi- 
leged competition,  and  are  intended  to  confer  on 
them  the  advantages  and  immunities  of  a  wise  and 
well-ordered  republican  government.  Indeed,  these 
relations  and  bearings  of  colonization  ought  to  com- 


SERMON  X.  249 

mend  it  to  all  the  Christian  patriots  of  this  great 
American  republic,  as  the  medium  of  blessing  Africa 
with  the  gospel. 

The  establishment  of  the  commonwealth  of  Li- 
beria is  the  first  attempt  by  the  citizens  of  this  coun- 
try to  plant  in  a  foreign  land  the  peculiar  institutions 
of  their  own.  This  fact  is  fraught  with  thrilling  in- 
terest to  the  enlightened  American  statesman,  and 
is  one  of  bright  auguries  to  Africa  and  the  African 
race.  Jt  would  seem  as  though  that  which  the  scrip- 
tures notice  as  a  truth  in  the  natural  history  of  the 
parent  eagle,  is  now  metaphorically  true  of  our  na- 
tional eagle — "  She  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth 
over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh 
them,  beareth  them  upon  her  wings.^'  Ours  has 
taken  its  Jirstling  and  set  him  upon  the  heights  of 
Cape  Mesurado,  to  mount  thence  on  his  circling 
ascent  towards  the  sun,  and  to  shed  from  his  wings 
the  blessings  of  republican  liberty  on  Africa.  And 
why  should  not  this  prove,  in  addition  to  the  urgent 
claims  of  Africa  herself,  a  powerful  incentive  to 
every  American  Christian  to  make  such  a  political 
community  on  the  coast  the  medium  through  which 
to  spread  that  glorious  gospel  whose  Dove  mounts 
on  a  loftier  flight  and  on  purer  wings  than  eagles', 
bearing  in  its  beak  the  olive-branch  of  proflered 
peace  from  Heaven  to  man,  and  diffusing,  from  every 
point  along  its  upward,  shining  way,  the  light  and 
infinite  blessings  of  that  "liberty  wherewith  Christ 
maketh  free?'^ 


250  SERMON  xr. 


SERMON    XL 


"And  they  sung  a  new  song." — Rev.  v.  9. 

The  book  of  Revelation  is  strikingly  distinguish- 
ed from  other  parts  of  the  inspired  volume.  Other 
portions,  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  con- 
tain the  history,  biography,  and  prophecy,  that  per- 
tain to  earth.  The  dealings  of  God  with  the  pa- 
triarchs, His  providence  over  the  ancient  Church, 
the  illustrious  examples  of  piety  that  have  figured  in 
the  moral  history  of  the  race,  the  preparation  for  and 
introduction  of  tiie  Messiah — his  life,  miracles  and 
doctrines,  the  precepts  of  his  gospel,  the  moral  con- 
dition of  man,  and  his  ultimate  destiny,  together  with 
the  predictions  of  the  final  and  universal  triumphs  of 
Christianity,  as  imbodied  in  the  New  Testament 
form  in  the  world,  these  are  the  principal  topics  on 
which  all  the  other  portions  of  divine  revelation 
treat.  But  the  Book  from  which  our  text  is  taken, 
dwells  more  on  the  brighter,  and  blessed  economy 
of  heaven.  It  carries  us  beyond  the  limits  of  earth, 
and  the  close  of  time.  It  draws  aside  the  veil  of  the 
eternal  future,  and  gives  us  a  distant  view  of  the  great 
metropolis  of  "The  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of 
lords."  The  spacious  city,  its  resplendent  walls  and 
pearly  gates,  and  streets  of  pure  transparent  gold, 
its  whole  scenery  and  sunlight,  its  holy  hosts  innu- 
merable, in  all  their  triumphs  and  infmortal  raptures 


SERMON  XI.  251 

of  bliss,  break  upon  our  awed,  yet  delighted  vision  ! 
The  beloved    disciple   had  his  mental  (perhaps  his 
hodily)  eye  supernaturally  assisted  to  penetrate  far 
into  the  wonders,  and  the  glories  of  that  mysterious 
realm  which  we  call  heaven  !     He  saw  its  multitude 
of  sublime  orders  of  being,  he  noticed  their  employ- 
ment, he  heard  the  accents  of  their  eternal  hosan- 
nahs,  he  witnessed  their  exalted  worship,  their  pro- 
found adoration,  the   glow  and  seraphic  ardour  of 
their  love  to  God,  and  most  of  all  does  he  seem  to 
be  struck  and  captivated  by  the  fact  which  he  an- 
nounces in  our  text,  "And  they  sung  a  new  song." 
What  must  have  been  the  emotions  of  the  exiled 
Apostle  in  the  solitude  of  Patmos  as  he  listened  to 
this  far  off  celestial  strain  !     How  overwhelming  to 
the  ear,  and  the  heart  of  a  mortal  its  divine  accents! 
To  him  in  his  lonely  longings  to  be  with  Christ,  any 
song  sung  by  heaven's  hosts  in  the  halls,  and  be- 
neath the  dome  of  God's  temple  above,  would  have 
an   ineffable    charm.     But   it   seems  they   had   one 
which  had  all  the  blissful  excitement  of  a  holy  and 
sublime  novelty.     We  seem  to  catch  something  of 
the  overpowering  emotions  of  the  beloved  disciple, 
as  the  numbers  of  this  song  fell  on  his  ear,  and  thrill- 
ed through  all  the  chords  of  his  soul!     We  can  ima- 
gine with  what  exhilaration  and  emphasis  he  makes 
the  declaration,  "And  they  sung  a  new  song!'' 

The  object  of  this  discourse  shall  be  to  show  in 
what  respects  this  is  a  new  song. 

I.  The  THEME  of  this  song  is  new,  it  stands  alone, 
there  is  none  like  it  amidst  all  the  themes  of  earth 
and  heaven.  The  theme  is  revealed  to  us,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  text.     It  is  not  necessary  to  invoke 


252  SERMON  XL 

the  aidiof  fancy  or  conjecture,  to  ascertain  what  was 
the  burden  of  this  wondrous  song.     On  this  point 
let  us  hear  with  reverence  the  following  utterance  of 
the  divine  oracles:  "And  I  saw  on  the  right  hand 
of  him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  a  book  written  with- 
in, and  on  the  back-side,  sealed  with  seven  seals. 
And  I  saw  a  strong  angel  proclaiming  with  a  loud 
voice.  Who  is  worthy  to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose 
the  seals  thereof?     And  no  man  in  heaven,  nor  in 
earth,  neither  under  the  earth,  was  able  to  open  the 
book,  neither  to  look  thereon.     And  I  wept  much 
because  no  man  was  found  worthy  to  open  and  to 
read  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon.     And  one  of 
the  elders  saith  unto  me.  Weep  not ;  behold  the  Lion 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  Root  of  David,  hath  pre- 
vailed to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seven  seals 
thereof.     And  I  beheld,  and  lo,  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne,  and  of  the  four  beasts,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  elders,  stood  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  having 
seven  heads,  and  ten  horns,  and  seven  eyes,  which 
are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth  into  all  the 
earth.     And  he  came  and  took  the  book  out  of  the 
right  hand  of  him  that  sat  upon  the  throne.     And 
when  he  had  taken  the   book,  the  four  beasts,  and 
four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the  Lamb, 
having  every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full 
of  odours,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints.    And  they 
sung  a  new  song,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy  to  take 
the  book  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof;  for  thou  wast 
slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood,  out 
of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  na- 
tion."    "  The  book"  mentioned  in  these  verses,  is 
thought  to  represent  the  glorious  counsels  and  pur- 


SERMON  XI.  253 

poses  of  Jehovah,  respecting  the  future  destinies  of 
men  under  the  mediatorial  reign  of  Christ  on  earth, 
and  the  consummation  of  his  kingdom  in  heaven. 
No  creature  therefore,  however  exalted  his  nature 
or  station,  could  open  that  hook,  or  loose  its  seven 
seals.  No  created  eye  could  even  look  into  it.  How 
deep  the  counsels  of  the  infinite  God  !  This  book, 
fraught  with  the  fates  of  men,  and  the  glorious  for- 
tunes of  Messiah's  empire,  would  have  for  ever  re- 
mained sealed,  had  not  one  been  found  who  was  wor- 
thy and  every  way  competent  to  take  it  "out  of  the 
right  hand  of  Him  that  sat  upon  the  throne,"  and  to 
loose  its  awful  seals.  There  is  a  profound  signifi- 
cancy  in  that  affirmation  of  Christ, — "No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only  begotten  Son  which 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared 
him.^\  With  all  the  vast  and  immortal  interests  in- 
volved in  the  opening  of  this  book,  and  the  disclo- 
sure of  its  stupendous  contents  to  man,  this  world, 
and  the  whole  dominions  of  God,  probably,  would 
have  remained  ignorant  of  its  revelations,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Lamb  that  was  slain.  None  but  He 
was  capable  of  disclosing  the  fixed  and  great  laws  of 
God's  administration,  over  the  Church  and  over  all 
the  intelligent  universe.  They  are  represented  here 
as  written  in  a  book,  to  indicate  their  uniformit}'^  and 
stability.  Now  you  will  observe  that  it  is  the  infi- 
nite excellencies  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  great  organ 
of  communication  between  God  and  man,  the  ex- 
pounder of  "the  deep  things"  of  the  divine  admi- 
nistration over  the  church,  which  constitutes  the 
theme  of  this  song.  Is  it  not  a  new  theme?  None 
ever  did  or  ever  will,  share  the  honors  of  Christ's 
22 


254  SERMON  XI. 

position  and  power  in  this  respect.  He  stands  alone 
in  the  peerless  dignity  and  glory  of  being  worthy 
to  take  the  closed  book  of  Jehovah's  purposes,  and 
loose  its  seals.  All  the  holy  creation  see  and  feel 
the  commanding  grandeur  of  his  act  in  taking  from 
the  right  hand  of  Him  that  sat  upon  the  throne,  that 
mysterious  book.  They  know  what  great  interests 
of  the  divine  empire  are  to  be  promoted  by  loosing 
its  seals.  What  glory  is  to  be  reflected  on  God  and 
what  good  to  accrue  to  the  moral  creation  from  this 
development  of  the  deep  counsels  of  God,  and  the 
great  and  fixed  principles  of  his  providence,  over  the 
church  and  the  world.  And  as  they  gaze  on  and 
admire,  and  adore  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  they 
string  their  harps,  and  tune  their  celestial  voices,  and 
break  forth  into  singing,  "  Thou  art  worthy  to  take 
the  book,  and  loose  the  seals  thereof.'^ 

What  a  new  theme  for  the  song  of  heaven ;  the 
dignity,  the  worth,  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  as  he 
unfolds  the  purposes  and  grand  principles  of  Jeho- 
vah's administration  over  the  church.  Amidst  the 
eternal  hallelujahs  of  heaven,  there  never  had  been, 
and  there  never  will  be  a  theme  like  this.  For  there 
is  but  One  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  but  One 
great  Expounder  of  his  infinite  counsels,  hut  one 
book  of  eternal  decrees,  and  but  One  worthy  to  take 
that  book  and  loose  the  seals ;  and  his  act  in  doing 
this  will  be  celebrated  for  ever,  in  a  new  song  iso- 
lated from  all  the  other  praises  of  eternity. 

II.  This  song  is  new  in  respect  to  the  vast  num- 
bers that  cordially  join  in  it.  It  is  but  a  limited 
number  that  can  engage  in  singing  together  on  earth. 
Beyond  a  few  thousands,  at  most,  it  becomes  physi- 


SERMON  XI.  255 

cally  impossible  to  participate  in  this  exercise.  But 
the  music  of  heaven  is  written  on  a  far  different  scale. 
The  infinite  God  has  made  arrangements  there  for 
numbers,  and  harmony,  of  which  at  present  we  can 
form  no  conception.  The  beloved  disciple  had  an  awe- 
inspiring  view  of  the  vast  mullitude  who  sang  this 
new  song.  Hear  his  thrilling  description  of  the  ce- 
lestial choir:  *^And  I  beheld  and  heard  the  voice  of 
many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  beasts, 
and  the  elders  ;  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thou- 
sands." These  numbers  are  evidently  employed,  not 
to  designate  the  precise  number  engaged  in  this 
heavenly  song,  but  to  convey  an  overwhelming  im- 
pression of  the  vastness  of  the  multitude.  We  have 
a  similar  phraseology  in  one  of  the  psalms,  where  it 
is  said,  "  The  chariots  of  God  are  twenty  thousand 
even"  (or  many)  "  thousands  of  angels."  The  Scrip- 
tures clearly  intimate  that  the  number  of  those  be- 
ings called  angels  is  very  great.  In  addition  to  all 
these,  the  apostle  mentions  other  orders  of  the 
heavenly  world  as  engaged  in  this  song;  "the  beasts," 
or  living  beings,  too  mighty  to  receive  a  name  in 
mortal  language,  and  the  elders,  another  order  of  ce- 
lestial existences.  Novv  these  alone  would  constitute 
an  inconceivably  great  number  whose  voices  are  uni- 
ted in  tills  song.  But  in  addition  to  all  these,  we 
know  that  all  the  redeemed  from  amongst  men  are 
part,  also,  of  that  grand  choir.  Every  adult  of  the 
human  race,  from  righteous  Abel  to  the  last  spirit  of 
the  just  made  perfect  in  glory,  swells  this  number. 
And  we  must  add  to  these  again,  as  we  seem  to  be 
authorized  to  do,  both  from  the  implications  of  scrip- 


256  SERMON  XI. 

ture  and  the  general  principles  of  benevolence,  all 
the  infant  population  of  our  globe  that  have  died  be- 
fore the  age  of  accountability.  Now  if  bills  of  mor- 
tality may  be  credited,  nearly  two-thirds  of  all  past 
generations  have  died  in  infancy.  What  myriads  of 
in/ant  voices  swell  the  rich  harmonies  of  this  new 
song!  0  !  with  what  a  tender  and  mournfully  en- 
dearing interest  does  this  thought  invest  the  music 
of  heaven.  Christian  parents,  have  you  lost  from 
earth,  in  their  infanc}^,  the  dear  objects  of  your  pa- 
rental affection  ?  Through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb, 
they  are  all  gathered  round  about  the  throne,  happy 
songsters  in  heaven  !  Thei/  form  a  part  of  that  innu- 
merable host,  whose  voices  give  accent  to  the  strains 
of  the  new  song  in  glory  !  Now  in  dilating  our 
thoughts  to  embrace  in  one  assemblage  all  the  angels, 
all  the  mighty  and  nameless  living  beings,  all  the 
elders,  all  the  adults  that  have  been  redeemed  from 
amongst  men,  and  all  of  our  race  that  have  died  in 
infancy,  our  minds  are  utterly  overmatched  with  the 
conception  of  the  vast  numbers  engaged  in  that  ce- 
lestial song!  Surely  it  is  new  in  respect  to  the  un- 
numbered and  innumerable  myriads  that  utter  its 
immortal  harmonies.  But  after  these  untold  myri- 
ads had  sung  the  first  strain  with  a  loud  voice,  saying, 
"Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book  and  loose  the 
seals  thereof,''  then  the  beloved  disciple  tells  us  who 
joined  with  them  in  the  grand  chorus  of  this  new 
and  wonderful  song:  "And  ever  1/ creature  which 
is  in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and 
such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard 
I  saying.  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power 
be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the 


SERMON  XI.  257 

Lamb  for  ever  and  ever!"  The  wide  universe  of 
being,  rational  and  irrational,  is  here  personified  and 
represented  as  participating  in  this  song,  for  it  cele- 
brates the  matchless  worth  of  him  who  takes  the 
book  and  looses  the  seals,  and  unfolds  the  great  and 
eternal  laws  of  that  benevolent  and  all-coraprehen- 
sive  providence,  which  encircles  every  being,  and 
extends  its  care  to  the  insect  of  an  hour,  not  less 
than  to  the  cherub  in  his  immortality  before  the 
throne.     What  must  be  the  music  of  such  a  song  !  ! 

That  is  a  beautiful,  though  perhaps  wholly  fanci- 
ful, speculation  of  philosophers,  which  supposes  that 
the  revolutions  of  the  multitudes  of  worlds,  in  the 
immensity  of  space,  create  sounds,  which  they  call 
"  the  music  of  the  spheres."  But  were  this  true,  and 
did  such  music  of  mighty  maternal  worlds,  actually 
exist,  what  would  it  be  compared  with  the  vast  num- 
bers, the  high  intelligence,  the  lofty  theme,  and  the 
holy  emotions  which  give  character  and  emphasis 
to  the  music  of  this  new  song?  What  is  the  num- 
ber of  all  worlds,  compared  with  the  number  of  all 
God^s  creatures — for 

"  Tke  ichole  creation  join  in  one, 
To  bless  the  sacred  name, 
Of  Him  that  sits  upon  tlie  throne, 
And  to  adore  the  Lamb." 

God  has  made  the  universe  vocal,  all  creatures  in 
all  worlds  shall  have  an  utterance,  for  once  at  least, 
to  swell  the  strains  and  give  accent  to  this  divine 
song.  In  respect  to  the  vast,  the  almost  infinite 
numbers  united  in  singing  its  sweet  celestial  harmo- 
nies, this  is  a  new  song,  even  amidst  the  unceasing 
hosannahs  of  heaven. 

22* 


258  SERMON  XI. 

III.  There  Is  a  divine  novelty  also  in  this  song,  from 
the  fact  that  its  harmonies  are  absolutely  perfect. 
Comparatively  few  voices  on  earth  can  be  so  com- 
bined as  to  form  a  complete  harmony.  And  were 
the  organs  of  vocalization  so  nearly  alike,  and  the 
various  parts  sft  carefully  balanced  as  to  give  promise 
of  the  best  music  possible,  in  our  present  condition, 
yet  the  emotions  or  states  of  the  singers'  minds  would 
necessarily  be  so  various,  as  to  interfere  with  a  full 
and  perfect  harmony;  for  it  is  a  well  ascertained 
fact,  that  the  particular  state  of  the  mind  greatly  in- 
fluences the  voice.  Hence,  the  tones  of  grief,  love, 
anger,  and  certain  other  emotions  are  peculiar,  and 
easily  distinguished.  It  would  indeed  be  a  new 
song  on  earth,  were  one  sung  by  any  considerable 
number  of  voices  in  perfect  harmony.  But  the  song 
contemplated  in  our  text,  z^  new  in  this  respect,  that 
notwithstanding  the  myriads  of  diflerent  orders  of 
beings  engaged  in  it,  its  harmony  is  absolutely  per- 
fect. Not  one  discordant  note  in  all  the  parts. 
Every  mind  is  filled  with  precisely  the  same  emo- 
tions, supreme  love,  adoration,  and  praise  to  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain.  No  sin  is  there  to  unstring 
the  heart  and  put  it  out  of  tune,  no  baleful  passion  to 
ruffle  the  mind,  and  communicate  harshness  to  the 
voice,  no  rivalry  amongst  the  heavenly  choir  to  re- 
press the  full-toned  utterance  of  praise  and  love,  no 
sorrows  to  sadden  the  soul,  and  extort  from  it  the 
wail  of  wo,  no  fears  to  damp  the  divine  ardours  of  the 
spirit  and  give  tremulousness  to  the  voice,  no  do- 
mestic discord  to  mar  the  peaceful  flow  of  sound,  no 
wars  nor  rumours  of  wars  to  embroil  and  agitate  the 
vast   multitudes  engaged  in  this  song,  no  frown  of 


SERMON  XT.  259 

Gotl  to  dim  their  cheerful  sunlight,  no  wave  of  death 
to  chill  one  heart,  or  silence  one  harp  of  the  innu- 
merable throng,  no  sigh,  no  sob,  no  groan  to  mingle 
with  this  song,  or  mar  its  heavenly  numbers.  Its 
harmonies  are  absolutely  perfect.  The  listening  ear 
of  God  detects  no  discord.  Its  sweet  accents  rise  on 
the  air  of  heaven  undisturbed,  as  though  uttered  by 
a  single  voice,  and  roll  along  the  track  of  eternal 
years  in  unbroken  harmony  !  It  is  a  new  song;  the 
only  one  ever  sung  by  so  countless  a  host  of  various 
orders  of  being,  and  yet  preserving  a  harmony  be- 
fitting the  music  of  Jehovah's  sanctuary  on  high! 

IV.  It  is  a  new  song,  because  it  celebrates  the 
union  and  coincidence  of  the  great  ends  attained 
by  the  law  and  the  gospel,  it  is  ^'  the  song  of  Moses 
and  the  LambP  The  taking  this  book,  and  the 
opening  its  seals,  disclosed  those  wise  and  wonderful 
counsels,  by  which  God  was  working  out,  both  in  the 
old  dispensation  and  the  new,  the  same  stupendous 
and  eternal  results  of  glory  to  himself,  and  good  to 
man.  And  yet  when  we  gather  round  Mount  Sinai, 
and  witness  the  darkness,  and  tempest,  and  thunder- 
ings,  and  the  voice  of  words,  and  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet  waxing  louder  and  louder,  and  hear  the 
stern,  uncompromising  commands,  and  the  certain 
and  fearful  denunciations  of  the  law,  and  then  go  to 
Calvary,  and  witness  its  mysteries  of  gloom  and  of 
glory,  hear  the  voice  of  love  and  mercy  proclaiming 
pardon,  wooing,  with  an  eloquence  divine,  the  guilty 
wanderer  back  to  God  the  Saviour,  pleading  with 
him  to  repent  and  believe,  and  promising  the  remis- 
sion of  sins,  and  the  joys  of  salvation  here,  and  the 
bliss  and  the  glories  of  an  eternal  heaven  hereafter,  we 


260  SERMON  XI. 

do  not  at  once  see  how  these  two  systems,  the  law  and 
the  gospel,  can  coincide  and  co-operate  in  the  attain- 
ment of  those  great  ends  that  are  celebrated  in  the 
new  song  of  heaven.  But  such  a  coincidence  does 
exist,  and  give  a  peculiar  emphasis  to  that  song.  The 
law  reveals  the  character  of  God  in  his  irreconcila- 
ble hatred  of  sin,  and  his  inflexible  determination  to 
punish  it.  The  gospel  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lamb 
that  was  slain,  magnifies  the  law  in  this  respect,  and 
makes  it  honourable,  deepening  the  impression,  the 
very  same  impression,  of  the  character  of  God  made 
by  the  law.  The  law  by  its  eternal  sanctions  brings 
a  powerful  restraint  on  the  depravity  of  man,  and 
takes  strong  hold  on  the  conscience.  The  precepts 
of  the  gospel,  pointing  to  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  as 
the  expression  of  God^s  estimate  of  the  magnitude 
and  malignity  of  sin,  (for  which  this  blood  is  the  only 
adequate  atonement,)  enhances  the  power  of  those 
restraints  imposed  by  the  law,  and  awakens  new 
fears  of  transgressing  whilst  it  proclaims,  "If  these 
things  be  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done 
in  the  dry!"  The  law  convicts  of  sin,  arraigns  and 
condemns  the  sinner,  and  cuts  him  ofi'from  all  hopes 
of  atoning  for  its  violation  by  any  subsequent  good 
works.  At  this  point  where  the  law  leaves  him 
alone  in  his  guilt  and  condemnation,  "the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God"  comes  to  him  with  the 
atoning  blood  of  his  well  beloved  Son,  with  a  justi- 
fying righteousness  all  complete,  with  sovereign 
mercy  and  grace,  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  regenerate  him,  the  favour  of  God  to  adopt  him  into 
his  great  family,  and  all  the  grand  appliances  of  the 
scheme  of  redemption  to  eflect  his  ultimate  and  eter- 


SERMON  XT.  261 

nal  salvation.  And  after  his  submission,  and  peni- 
tence, and  faith,  and  adoption,  both  the  precepts  of 
the  law  and  the  gospel  take  the  control  of  all  his 
actions,  and  become,  under  the  application  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  a  great  instrument  of  his  sanctification  and 
meetness  for  heaven.  "  Do  we  make  void  the  law 
through  faitii?  God  forbid."  There  is  a  most  glori- 
ous coincidence  and  co-operation  between  the  law  and 
the  gospel,  in  effecting  those  far-reaching  and  benevo- 
lent results,  at  which  God  aims  in  his  administrations 
of  providence  and  grace  over  the  world.  But  this 
wonderful  coincidence  and  co-operation,  are  never 
fully  seen  and  appreciated  here.  It  is  the  vast  mul- 
titude engaged  in  the  new  song  of  heaven,  whose 
piercing  vision  enables  them  to  penetrate  into  the 
deep  things  of  the  divine  administration,  and  to  see 
how  the  very  same  great  moral  results  are  effected 
by  the  united  action  of  the  law  and  the  gospel. 
They  see  those  results  perfected,  and  in  all  their 
magnitude  and  celestial  grandeur.  Hence,  to  cele- 
brate the  wisdom  of  Christ  in  making  these  two  ap- 
parently opposite  systems  work  together  for  the 
attainment  of  ends  vast  as  the  manifestations  of  Je- 
hovah's glory  and  the  eternal  happiness  of  redeemed 
millions,  becomes  a  part  of  their  immortal  song.  It 
is  a  new  song,  then,  because  it  celebrates  the  excel- 
lencies and  perfection  of  that  very  law,  with  which 
sinners  in  this  world,  and  the  world  of  wo,  are 
maintaining  a  most  deadly  quarrel,  and  recognises  its 
coincidence  with  the  blessed  gospel  in  effecting  the 
grand  purposes  of  God's  government  in  the  happi- 
ness of  the  universe. 

V.  It  is  a  new  song,  because  it  celebrates  com- 


262  SERMON  XI. 

PLETED  redemption.  This  is  the  very  point  of  the 
reason  assigned  in  our  text,  why  Christ  was  worthy 
to  take  the  book  and  loose  its  seals.  "And  they  sung 
a  new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the 
book  and  open  the  seals  thereof,  for  Thou  wast 
slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God,  by  Thy  blood, 
out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation  ;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings,  and 
priests,  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth."  Here  the 
price  of  redemption,  the  precious  blood  of  Christ, 
and  that  redemption  consummated  in  heaven,  are 
presented  as  the  burden  of  this  new  and  wondrous 
song.  And  this  constitutes  it  a  new  song,  for  no 
such  event  as  finished  salvation  is  celebrated  any 
where  but  in  heaven.  The  song  of  redeeming  grace, 
is  in  one  sense  new,  and  it  is  sung  here  by  the  soul 
in  the  first  joys  of  its  conversion.  But  it  celebrates 
only  the  commencem.ent  of  the  reign  of  Christ  in 
the  heart.  It  is  the  song  that  animates  to  the  con- 
flict, and  urges  to  spiritual  attainment,  not  the  tri- 
umphant strains  of  victory  and  full  fruition.  Its 
sweet  notes  are  often  interrupted  by  the  groans  of  a 
captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  Its  music  is 
often  exchanged  for  the  voice  of  lamentation  over 
the  remaining  depravity  of  the  heart.  The  occasion- 
al prevalence  of  temptation  and  sin,  the  trials  and 
sorrows  of  life,  and  the  hardships  of  the  Christian 
warfare,  often  for  a  season  suspend  it  altogether.  It 
is  a  "song  in  the  night"  of  the  Christian's  pilgrim- 
age, a  song  inspired  more  by  the  hope  of  what  is  yet 
future,  than  by  what  is  already  in  possession.  It 
celebrates  the  conquest  of  sovereign  grace  over  the 
heart,  and  the  occasional  victories  gained  over  the 


SERMON  XI.  263 

world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil,  as  the  Christian  ad- 
vances in  the  divine  life;  yet,  as  already  intimated, 
its  sweetest  accents  refer  to  what  he  hopes  to  be,  and 
to  enjoy  in  the  future.  Widely  different  from  this  is 
the  song  spoken  of  in  our  text.  It  celebrates  com- 
pleted redemption.  It  looks  back  from  heaven  to 
Calvary  to  catch  its  glowing  inspirations  from  the 
blood  that  was  shed  there,  and  to  sing  the  present, 
completed  triumphs  of  the  great  atonement.  ^' For 
Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by 
Thy  blood."  The  blessed  work  is  actually  com- 
pleted, "  it  is  finished,^^  The  temptations,  trials, 
conflicts,  sorrows,  and  separations  from  God  that 
mark  this  state  of  probation,  are  all  past  and  gone 
for  ever.  Sin  has  lost  entirely  its  long  waning  do- 
minion in  the  soul.  Death's  work  on  all  that  was 
mortal  in  the  Christian  is  over.  He  has  left  this  in- 
constant world  with  its  alternate  light  and  shade,  its 
conflicting  hopes  and  fears,  far  and  for  ever  behind. 
The  process  of  his  sanctification  so  long  in  progress 
by  the  working  together  of  all  things  for  his  good, 
is  novv  perfected.  Without  spot,  blameless  and  un- 
reprovable  in  love  before  God,  he  now  stands  behold- 
ing Jesus  as  he  is,  and  being  like  Him,  his  redemp- 
tion fully  consummated.  This  is  the  mighty  theme 
of  all  the  unnumbered  multitudes  redeemed  out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation. 
They  sing  the  wonders,  the  ineffable  glories,  of  their 
perfected  salvation!  All  that  God  had  promised, 
and  more  than  hope  ever  grasped,  they  now  realize. 
They  sing  not  of  bright,  though  distant  anticipations. 
They  utter  their  own  present  blissful  experience  of 
finished  redemption  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 


264  SERMON  %L 

What  a  blissful  song!  Is  it  not  new?  Is  there 
any  thing  like  it  sung  by  the  inhabitants  of  any  other 
world,  in  God's  wide  dominions  ?  Not  only  finished 
redemption,  redemption  terminating  in  the  eternal 
transports  of  a  soul  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and 
presented  before  God,  but  a  redemption  wrought 
out  by  the  travail  and  tragic  agony  of  Him  who  was 
slain,  and  purchased  it  with  his  own  precious  blood. 

What  wonder  that  the  notes  of  such  a  song  burst- 
ing on  the  air  of  heaven,  should  be  borne  down  to 
earth,  and  greet  the  ear  of  the  exiled  disciple  amidst 
the  solitude  of  that  desert  isle,  whither,  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  he  was  banished!  "And  they  sung 
a  new  song,"  new,  because  it  couples  the  atonement 
of  Calvary  with  the  perfected  salvation  of  the  just  in 
heaven,  and  celebrates  the  splendid  achievements  of 
the  second  Adam  over  all  the  tremendous  ruins  of 
the  first.  0  grant  that  my  soul  may  kindle  with  the 
raptures  of  that  song,  and  my  voice  yet  mingle  in  its 
sublime  harmonies,  I  ask  no  heaven  besides!! 

VI.  And  lastly — It  is  a  new  song,  because,  unlike 
all  others,  if  will  never  end.  That  high-wrought 
emotion  which  gives  birth  to  poetry  and  music,  con- 
stitutes a  state  of  mind  so  far  above  its  ordinary 
level,  that,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  cannot  last 
long.  The  human  voice  also,  in  the  present  state,  is 
incapable  of  any  very  protracted  exercise.  Even 
the  sweetest  song  of  the  Christian,  while  here  below^, 
must  soon  be  brought  to  a  close.  There  is  no  joyous 
melody  on  earth,  but  is  short-lived.  In  this,  as  well 
as  in  other  respects,  "  the  fashion  of  this  world 
passeth  away."  The  ear  is  scarcely  greeted  and 
gladdened  by  the  charms  of  song,  till  the  sound  dies 


SERMON  XL  265 

away,  and  is  remembered  only  as  a  dream.  How 
different  is  the  new  song  of  heaven  !  All  the  voices 
engaged  in  it,  are  immoi'tal.  The  hearts  in  which 
the  melodies  of  that  song  are  made,  are  strong  iin- 
dying  hearts.  The  theme  of  that  song  is  change- 
less, and  everlasting.  The  bliss  of  that  song  is  a 
permanent  part  of  the  bliss  of  heaven.  The  utter- 
ance of  its  rich  and  flowing  harmonies,  is  by  that 
"voice  of  many  waters,"  whose  tides  shall  never 
ebb,  but  rise  and  roll  onward  with  an  accumulating 
swell  by  a  fixed  law  of  the  celestial  economy.  He 
to  whom  its  lofty  praises  are  directed,  "liveth  and 
reigneth  for  ever."  His  excellencies  which  it  cele- 
brates, are  immutable  and  eternal.  Why  then  should 
such  a  song  ever  cease  ?  It  never  will,  for  it  is  said 
of  those  who  constitute  the  grand  orchestra  of  heaven, 
and  peal  forth  the  rapturous  melodies  of  that  song, 
that  "  they  rest  not  day  nor  night."  They  have 
minds  capable  of  sustaining  for  ever  the  mighty  emo- 
tions that  give  birth  to  its  poetry  and  its  music. 
They  have  voices  that  know  no  fatigue  by  incessant 
exercise.  They  have  an  atmosphere  to  perpetuate 
its  sounds,  which  no  storms  ever  agitate,  and  an  ear 
to  listen  to  its  holy  strains,  that  can  never  grow 
weary  or  dull.  This  song  then  stands  alone  and 
new  in  this  respect,  that  it  will  be  eternal.  It  began 
long  since,  and  has  never  suffered  the  diminution  of 
one  voice  that  was  ever  engaged  in  its  sweet  accents. 
Each  redeemed  spirit,  as  it  enters  heaven,  catches  the 
inspiration  and  re-echoes  the  strain.  And,  after  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day,  when  the  ultimate  order 
of  God's  administration  over  the  holy  shall  be  set- 
tled for  ever,  this  new  song  will  receive  a  new  em- 
23 


266  SERMON  XL 

phasis,  and  a  new  impulse,  and  the  vast  universe  will 
take  it  up  then  as  the  grand  hallelujah  chorus  to 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb, 
"  world  without  end.'* 

The  practical  inference  most  obviously  deducible 
from  this  subject  is,  that  God  reveals  this  new  song 
of  heaven  to  our  world,  to  allure  his  people  to 
awake  and  prepare  now  for  participating  soon 
hereafter  in  its  blissful  numbers.  Dear  Christian 
friends,  have  we  a  state  of  heart  at  present  that  is 
gladdened  by  the  distant  notes  of  this  song,  and  that 
leads  us  to  long  for  the  hour  when,  away  from  the 
turmoil  and  discord  of  earth,  we  shall  join  its  exalted 
strains?  0!  are  we  living  in  such  communion  with 
God,  in  such  fervours  of  love  to  the  Saviour,  in  such 
a  spirit  of  importunate  prayer,  with  such  a  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  God,  such  compassion  for  souls,  such 
holy  longings  for  the  purity  and  the  bliss  of  heaven, 
that  we  are  ready,  waiting,  eager  to  seize  our  golden 
harps  and  tune  our  voices  for  this  new  song?  Would 
to  God  we  were,  for  then  would  our  captivity  be 
turned,  our  desolations  repaired,  and  we  be  girded 
anew  for  all  the  noble  doings  and  darings  of  Chris- 
tian heroism  in  the  good  fight  of  faith.  Yes,  "the 
joy  of  the  Lord  is  the  strength  of  his  people."  The 
music  of  heaven  is  the  true  martial  inspiration  for 
our  spiritual  warfare.  Think  not,  my  hearers,  that  I 
have  presented  this  subject  to  you,  merely  to  gratify 
that  instinctive  love  that  we  possess,  to  hear  glowing 
descriptions  of  the  bliss  of  heaven,  or  for  the  purpose 
of  employing  your  imaginations  in  vague  excursions 
through  those  beatific  realms  revealed  to  the  faith, 
and  compassed  as  a  vivid  reality  by  the  hopes  of  the 


SERMON  XT.  267 

devout  Christian.  No,  I  have  presented  it  under  a 
deep  conviction,  that  Christians  not  only  lose  much 
comfort,  but  are  often  greatly  dispirited  and  dis- 
qualified for  the  battlings  of  the  good  soldier,  by  not 
fixing  the  eye  of  faith  more  frequently'  and  steadfast- 
ly on  the  bright  and  glorious  scenes  of  an  eternal 
heaven.  How  different  the  impulse  to  every  duty, 
how  diflerent  the  support  in  every  trial,  and  the 
courage  in  every  conflict  derived  from  the  shinings 
of  an  opening  heaven,  and  the  song  of  its  glad  ho- 
sannahs,  compared  with  the  influence  of  mere  habit, 
slavish  fear,  or  cold  convictions  of  the  judgment, 
or  understanding !  Believe  me,  my  Christian  friends, 
should  God  in  his  providence  place  and  hold  you, 
by  a  precarious  state  of  health,  for  a  length  of  time 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  eternal  world,  and  should  he 
rouse  your  faith  to  grasp  its  invisible  realities,  and 
should  he  graciously  brighten  your  hopes  of  an  un- 
fading crown,  and  an  everlasting  kingdom  in  heaven, 
you  will  then  be  able  to  appreciate  the  emphatic 
truth  of  the  declaration,  that  no  impulsive  power  for 
good  ever  gathers  such  energies  on  the  human  soul, 
as  that  derived  from  a  bright  and  assured  hope  of 
glory.  0 !  to  mount  as  on  wings  of  eagles  above 
the  clouds  and  noise  of  earth,  to  have  our  vision 
filled  and  glowing  with  the  resplendent  objects  of 
that  upper  world,  our  ear  greeted  with  its  songs  and 
shouts  of  victory,  and  our  hearts  melted  and  dilated 
with  the  infinite  ardours  of  its  love,  then  would  we 
be  fitted  for  those  heroic  deeds  of  faith,  and  those 
holy  triumphs  of  Christian  hope  that  will  bring  us 
off*  more  than  conquerors  from  the  great  spiritual 
battle-field  of  our  probation,  more  than  victors  over 
death  and  the  grave. 


268  SERMON  XII. 


SERMON   XII. 


"But  one  sinner  destroyeth  much  good." — Ec.  ix.  18. 

The  influence  which  a  certain  description  of  mo- 
ral character  exerts  on  the  world,  is  a  subject  of 
deep  and  thrilling  interest.  That  God  should  have 
permitted  human  beings  to  exercise  so  great  a  con- 
trol over  each  other's  allotments  here,  and  their  des- 
tinies hereafter,  is  one  of  the  inexplicable  things  in 
the  present  economy.  That  there  should  be  such 
importance  as  the  Scriptures  attach  to  the  character, 
and  such  remote  and  incalculable  consequences  con- 
nected with  the  actions  of  so  limited  a  creature  as 
man,  seems  almost  incredible.  Hence,  the  good 
man  is  often  prone  to  think  that  if  he  have  faith,  it 
is  literally  "  to  himself  and  God  "  alone — that  his 
character  as  a  Christian  is  connected  with  no  results 
other  than  those  which  he  shall  experience  in  his 
own  individual  case,  either  in  this  or  in  his  future 
life.  But,  in  the  verses  preceding  the  text,  the 
gifted  and  divinely  inspired  Solomon  corrects  this 
misapprehension,  and  shows  that  "wisdom" — that 
is,  true  piety — "  is  better  than  weapons  of  war." 
He  drew  this  inference  from  a  fact  which  he  had 
previously  stated,  namely,  that  a  city  had  been  de- 
livered from  a  most  appalling  siege  by  the  wisdom 
or  piety  of  '^  one  poor  man!^'  We  have  thus  the 
grave  truth  disclosed  to  us,  that  in  the  wonderful 


i 


SERMON  XII.  269 

scheme  of  God's  government  over  the  world  results 
far  beyond  the  most  splendid  triumphs  of  military 
prowess  or  the  combined  force  of  physical  appli- 
ance can  spring  from  the  character  and  conduct  of 
one  obscure  righteous  man.  Therefore  "  wisdom  is 
better  than  weapons  of  war."  But  it  is  the  sinner 
in  his  career  of  crime  who  feels  least  responsibility 
for  the  consequences  of  his  conduct.  Indeed,  that 
very  thoiighllessness  which  cannot  be  made  to  pause 
and  consider  the  influence  and  issues  of  his  actions 
is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  traits  of  the  sin- 
ner. What  task  more  hopeless  than  to  attempt  to 
infix  upon  his  soul  the  conviction  that  with  every 
step  he  takes  in  sin,  there  may  be  disastrous  results 
which  shall  yet  spread  themselves  out,  wide  as  the 
world  he  now  inhabits,  and  be  as  enduring  as  the 
eternity  to  which  he  hastens!  Make  the  attempt, 
and  the  sinner  will  tell  you  with  the  utmost  candour 
that  he  means  nothing  by  his  wickedness — that  he 
has  no  disposition  to  harm  one  of  human  kind  or  to 
spread  mischief  and  misery  in  the  empire  of  God ; 
nor  can  he  believe,  that  he,  only  one  of  nine  hun- 
dred millions  of  men  could,  were  he  to  try,  do  much 
injury  to  the  cause  of  virtue  and  happiness  in  the 
world.  His  practical  language  is — "  many  sinners 
do  not  destroy  much  good."  But  a  greater  than  he 
hath  said  in  our  text — '*  One  sinner  destroyeth 
much  good."  '^  Destroyeth  much  good" — not 
may  destroy — the  declaration  is  both  positive  and 
absolute.  He  is  not  only  capacitated  to  destroy, 
but  does  actually  destroy  much  good.  This  he 
does  either  by  his  character  and  habitual  conduct 
counteracting  those  causes  operating  to  produce 
23* 


270  SERMON  XII. 

good,  or  by  putting  in  train  directly  those  causes 
that  will  eventuate  in  the  production  of  immense 
mischief.  The  consideration  of  a  few  great  general 
principles  in  the  moral  philosophy  of  fallen  man, 
will  illustrate  and  prove  the  truth  of  our  text. 

I.  ^11  the  relations  of  man  in  the  present  world 
are  so  arranged  as  to  advance  him  from  a  less 
to  a  greater  degree  of  virtue^  if  he  is  righteous,  or 
of  vice,  if  he  is  an  habitual  sinner.  This  arrange- 
ment is  both  wise  and  benevolent;  suited  admirably 
to  the  nature  of  man,  as  a  moral  agent  in  a  state  of 
discipline  and  probation.  It  was  not  made  origi- 
nally, that  men  might  have  a  facility  by  these  rela- 
tions to  advance  in  vice  and  crime,  but  in  virtue 
and  benevolence.  It  is  man's  character  and  spirit 
as  a  sinner  which  pervert  all  his  relations  and 
render  their  admirable  arrangement  the  means  of 
that  fearful  progression  in  vice  that  arms  him  with 
so  stupendous  a  power  of  mischief.  In  order  to  es- 
timate this  power  of  one  sinner,  let  us  follow  him 
in  his  criminal  career  through  the  ascending  series 
of  his  relations  and  the  widening  spheres  of  influ- 
ence which  they  open  to  him  in  the  present  world. 
Let  us  take  him  in  the  simplest  relation  of  his  exis- 
tence,— that  of  mere  childhood  in  the  nursery,  and 
see  whether  even  here  the  buddings  of  his  power  to 
destroy  much  good  are  not  manifest.  Does  not 
his  spirit  of  disobedience,  his  wilfulness  and  obsti- 
nacy, his  restiveness  under  control  and  the  bursts  of 
his  temper  here  indulged  tend  to  destroy  a  mother's 
equanimity,  to  produce  habits  of  irritability,  and  to 
disqualify  her  for  the  calm  and  consistent  perfor- 
mance of  her  maternal  duties?     These  baleful  pas- 


SERMON  XII.  271 

sions  in  a  less  or  greater  degree  of  development  and 
exercise  will  characterize  the  one  sinner,  though  so 
young  as  not  yet  to  have  gone  beyond  the  threshold 
of  the  nursery,  and  they  will  be  efficiently  destruc- 
tive of  much  good  that  would  otherwise  have  ex- 
isted in  the  temper  and  habits  of  parents. 

Let  us  contemplate  him  again  advanced  to  the  re- 
lation of  boyhood,  and  coupled  by  it  to  a  number  of 
young  associates,  and  what  a  power  of  destruction 
will  his  spirit  and  conduct  as  a  sinner  wield  at  this 
period  over  their  unsettled  and  pliable  moral  feel- 
ings. The  companionship  of  early  life,  when  the 
principle  of  imitation  acts  so  powerfully,  exerts  a 
greater  and  more  decisive  influence  in  the  formation 
of  character  than  any  other  given  circumstance. 
Let  this  one,  young  sinner,  then,  be  familiar  with 
that  reproach  of  youth, — that  most  gratuitous  and 
vulgar  vice — profane  swearing ;  and  how  much  good 
will  he  destroy,  by  weakening  in  the  minds  of  his 
youthful  companions  that  reverence  for  the  name 
and  the  attributes  of  God  in  which  they  have  been 
educated.  One  guilty  hour  of  his  profaneness  may 
annihilate  in  the  minds  of  his  young  associates  that 
"fear  of  an  oath"  which- has  cost  parents  and  reli- 
gious teachers  the  labour  of  years  to  produce.  And 
this  annihilation  of  the  fear  of  God,  this  upheaval 
and  throwing  oflf  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  re- 
straints on  juvenile  depravity,  gives  scope  and  play 
to  a  multitude  of  destructive  agencies  in  the  young 
mind  hitherto  held  in  check.  It  uncages  the  baleful 
])assions,  and  sends  them  prowling,  unawed,  through 
the  ranks  of  youthful  society.  Now,  so  crowded  as 
is  the  young  population  of  most  countries,  and   so 


272  SERMON  XII. 

strong  as  is  the  associating  principle  at  this  period, 
who  can  compute  the  number  of  youthful  minds 
with  which  this  one  young,  profane  sinner  will  come 
in  contact,  and  on  whom  he  will  exert  this  form  of 
blighting  influence?  Take,  then,  the  whole  num- 
ber of  cases  in  which  he  has  destroyed  this  single 
feeling  of  reverence  for  the  name  of  God,  and  then 
multiply  by  the  number  and  force  of  all  those  other 
sins  to  which  freedom  from  this  form  of  restraint 
has  given  rise,  and  say  whether  one  sinner  in  a  li- 
mited relation  does  not  destroy  much  good. 

It  deserves  to  be  noticed  here,  also,  that  the  very 
same  kind  of  influence  exerted  in  this  one  instance 
of  profane  swearing  is  attributable,  in  all  its  length 
and  breadth,  to  all  that  number  and  variety  of  evil 
actions  which  constitute  the  character  and  perma- 
nent example  of  the  young  sinner.  Let  him  enstamp 
on  the  imagination  of  a  youthful  companion  an  ob- 
scene image,  and  lay  the  foundation  for  trains  of 
polluted  association,  and  can  any  finite  mind  com- 
pute the  mischief  thus  effected?  So,  his  disregard 
of  parental  authority,  his  disrespect  to  superiors,  his 
folly  and  recklessness,  his  contempt  for  the  good 
opinion  of  the  virtuous,  his  callousness  at  wounding 
the  feelings  of  others,  his  envy  and  evil-speaking, 
his  malice  and  early  attempts  at  vengeance  and  re- 
taliation of  injuries,  all  tell  with  the  same  efficient 
destructiveness  on  the  forming  habits  and  pliant 
feelings  of  his  youthful  associates  ! 

We  may  next  contemplate  this  one  sinner  in  the 
relation  of  manhood.  All  his  powers  are  now 
fully  developed,  and  a  mature  intensity  given  to 
his  evil  moral  qualities  which  they  did  not  possess 


SERMON  XII.  273 

before.  He  has  the  aggregated  strength  of  con- 
firmed habits  of  sin.  Much  practice  has  given 
him  tact,  and  taught  him  a  compendious  tnode  of 
doing  evil.  This  relation  greatly  enlarges  the  sphere 
of  his  blasting  influence.  It  involves  the  relation  of 
superiority  in  years  over  all  that  younger  part  of 
society  with  whom  we  have  hitherto  contemplated 
him  as  on  an  equality,  whilst  his  present  equality 
is  with  the  entire  multitudes  in  manhood  around 
him.  Here  then,  you  perceive,  he  has  an  almost 
unlimited  sway  over  the  young,  who  look  up  to  him 
as  their  superior  in  age  and  in  knowledge,  whilst  he 
has  a  new  and  extended  influence  over  his  present 
equals  in  the  period  of  manhood.  He  is  no  longer 
confined  to  the  narrow  circle  of  his  boyish  compa- 
nions, nor  to  the  limited  routine  of  juvenile  action. 
He  is  connected  now  with  that  portion  of  society 
subject  to  most  mutation,  where  his  mind  is  brought 
into  contact  with  other  minds  in  constant  and  quick 
succession.  His  facilities  of  communication  with 
his  fellows  are  such  that  he  is  perpetually  enlarging 
the  sphere  of  his  destructive  operations,  and  multi- 
plying the  radiating  points  of  his  malignant  influ- 
ence. Now,  over  this  wide  and  widening  field  he 
is  spreading  out  the  peculiarities  of  his  character  as 
a  sinner,  which,  by  seizing  on  the  great  laws  of 
sympathy  and  assimilation  in  the  hearts  of  his  fel- 
low men,  are  dealing  a  most  signal  and  unsparing 
destruction  over  "  whatsoever  is  lovely  and  of  good 
report "  there.  And  who  may  tell  what  confirmed 
prejudices  against  the  truth — what  latitudinous  sen- 
timents— what  contempt  for  the  laws  of  God  and 
man  —  what  opiates  of  conscience  —  what  settled,^ 


274  SERMON  xn. 

hardened  skepticism  —  what  confirmed  enmity  to 
God  and  all  that  is  good  may  take  the  place  of  bet- 
ter feelings  in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  this  one  sinner,  in  ten  years  of  the  vigour  of 
manhood?  What  "  fire-brands,  arrows,  and  death" 
has  he  strewn  over  the  whole  length  of  his  guilty 
pathway!  What  blight  and  mildew  has  he  left  on 
the  morals  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  in  contact ! 
What  wasting  and  desolation,  more  terrible  than  of 
the  whirlwind  and  the  earthquake,  mark  his  crimi- 
nal career! 

But  let  us  now  contemplate  this  "one  sinner"  ad- 
vanced in  age,  in  the  relation  in  which  "  three  score 
and  ten  "  places  him.  At  this  period  a  superficial 
observer  might  suppose  that  his  power  of  destroy- 
ing much  good  was  greatly  diminished.  He  is  now 
consigned  by  his  age  to  comparative  retirement  and 
inactivity.  But  man's  social  principle  is  not  de- 
stroyed by  the  lapse  of  years.  At  every  period  of 
life  he  loves  society,  and  will  have  it.  And  the 
change  from  that  portion  of  society  in  manhood  and 
middle  life  to  that  of  old  age  is  so  gradual  and  im- 
perceptible, that  the  veteran  of  seventy  still  finds 
himself  in  congenial  company,  unaltered  in  all  the 
peculiarities  of  his  spirit  and  character  as  a  sinner. 
He  has  those  that  are  his  equals  and  his  fellows  noWy 
no  less  than  were  those  of  his  boyhood  and  maturity. 
And  though,  in  his  physical  constitution,  he  bears 
the  marks  of  wasted  vigour  and  wrecked  animal 
energies,  yet  his  enmity  against  God  is  strong  as 
ever,  and  the  habit  of  sinning,  and  all  his  powers  of 
destroying  much  good,  have  suflered  nothing  from 
^the  changes  and  chances  of  time,  or  the  debility  and 


SERMON  XII.  215 

decrepitude  of  age.  If  those  of  his  own  years,  with 
whom  he  now  associates,  be  fewer  than  those  who 
surrounded  him  when  young  and  gay,  his  influence 
on  such  is  more  certainly  and  effectively  destructive; 
because  his  aged  companions  will  not,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  have  the  same  length  of  time  to  retrace 
their  evil  course  which  the  young  may.  The  old 
already  live  in  the  vicinity  of  the  judgment-seat, 
and  have  advanced  within  a  step  of  the  irreversible 
awards  of  eternity.  Besides,  they  have  arrived  at 
that  advanced  point  in  the  formation  of  character 
when  a  single  shade  or  two  added  is  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary io  finish  the  dark  picture  of  their  depravity, 
complete  their  education  in  sin,  and  graduate  them 
for  a  miserable  immortality !  If,  then,  there  be 
fewer  materials  for  him  to  operate  on,  they  have  a 
greater  adaptation  to  the  aged  sinner's  work  of 
destruction.  But  is  it  correct  to  estimate  the  num- 
ber disfeio  in  whose  hearts  one  aged  sinner  may  de- 
stroy much  good?  No.  His  influence  now  extends 
over  all  the  gradations  of  society  through  which  he 
has  passed.  His  advance  to  new  and  higher  rela- 
tions have  not  destroyed  any  of  the  others.  Yot 
instance,  will  not  a  profane  oath,  sanctioned  by  the 
gray  hairs,  and  trembling  limbs,  and  toothless  arti- 
culation of  age,  more  efiectually  destroy  the  fear  of 
God  in  a  child  than  the  profaneness  of  a  young  com- 
panion? Children,  till  taught  otherwise  by  experi- 
ence and  observation,  always  associate  the  idea  of 
the  becoming  and  the  correct  with  the  conduct  of 
the  aged.  Why,  then,  may  not  the  crowds  of  giddy 
youth  be  indoctrinated  and  confirmed  in  their  care- 
lessness, stupidity,  and  practical  atheism,  when  they 


276  SERMON  xri. 

see  the  man  of  three-score  and  ten  as  utterly  reck- 
less as  themselves?— see  him,  when  he  has  one  foot 
already  on  that  narrow  isthmus  which  divides  this 
from  the  eternal  world,  as  insensible  as  though  there 
were  no  God,  no  final  doom,  no  ruined  eternity  for 
the  incorrigible  sinner!  Yea,  one  aged  sinner  will 
exert  a  destructive  influence  over  the  minds  and 
morals  of  youth  beyond  the  power  of  hundreds  of 
their  own  age;  because  the  young,  by  a  strange  de- 
lusion, uniformly  contemplate  advanced  age  as  the 
appropriate  and  favourable  period  for  the  exercises 
of  piety,  and  the  aged  as  patterns  of  serious  thought- 
fulness  and  preparation  for  the  world  to  come.  And 
further,  may  not  the  busy  and  bustling  crowds  of 
manhood  and  middle  age  learn  a  lesson  of  absorb- 
ing attachment  to  the  world,  and  of  sordid  avarice, 
from  the  aged  sinner  who,  tottering  on  his  crutches, 
toils  and  struggles  on  through  schemes  of  gain,  and 
whose  withered  heart  still  beats  high  with  the  love 
of  gold,  even  when  its  muscular  strength  is  scarcely 
sufficient  to  propel  the  slow  current  of  life  along  its 
channels.  Thus  it  is  manifest  that  one  aged  sinner 
destroys  much  good  over  all  the  gradations  of  soci- 
ety, from  the  child  up  to  the  few  of  gray  hairs  with 
himself,  who  are  glad  to  add  him  to  their  number, 
that  there  may  be  one  more  to  divide  with  them 
the  responsibility  of  a  misspent  life,  and  of  hoary- 
headed  impenitence! 

It  is  but  justice  to  the  subject  to  introduce  in  this 
estimate  an  item  that  has  been  hitherto  omitted; 
that  is,  the  amount  of  good  which  this  one  sinner 
has  destroyed  by  destroying  the  hopes  and  happi- 
ness of  his  own  soul — that  soul  whose  worth  mocks 


SERMON   XII.  277 

tlie  wealth  of  worlds,  and  is  written  in  the  blood  of 
the'  great  atonement,  and  whose  weight  can  be  ba- 
lanced only  by  that  "far  more  exceeding  and  eter- 
nal weight  of  glory"  which  would  have  been  his, 
had  he  not  destroyed  himself  by  his  iniquities. 
Think  of  the  number  of  souls  with  whom  lie  came 
in  contact  while  yet  young,  and  on  whom,  when 
yielding  as  the  wax  is  to  the  seal,  he  exerted  his  de- 
structive influence  as  a  sinner!  Think,  again,  of  tiie 
still  greater  number  of  souls,  in  the  period  of  man- 
hood, on  whom  he  brought  to  bear  all  his  matured 
agencies  of  evil,  wasting  their  moral  strength,  and 
making  their  bonds  of  iniquity  strong  upon  them, 
and  strengthening  their  hands  in  sin,  and  urging 
them  to  the  same  excesses  with  himself  by  his  coun- 
sel and  example,  and  all  the  tremendous  power  of 
his  spirit  and  character  as  a  sinner.  Think,  too,  of 
the  number  of  aged  wrecks  with  whom  he  consorted 
when  old,  and  who  required  but  one  blow  even  of 
his  shrivelled  arm  to  dash  them  in  moral  ruin:  and 
forget  not  to  take  into  the  account  here,  that  two 
new  generations  of  children  and  men  in  their  meri- 
dian have  sprung  up  since  those  with  whom  he  used 
to  be  associated  have  passed  away,  and  that  over 
these,  as  well  on  those  once  the  immediate  compa- 
nions of  his  age,  he  is  rolling  back  the  destructive 
tide  of  his  power,  and  then  say,  my  hearers,  does 
not  one  sinner  destroy  much  good? 

But  I  beg  you  to  notice  that  in  this  estimate  of 
the  sinner's  power  to  do  harm,  we  have  contem- 
plated him  only  in  his  most  general  relations  as  a 
member  of  society — merely  as  one  of  the  multitude 
— without  sustaining  any  particular  relation,  involv- 
24 


278  SERMON  Xlle 

ing  in  its  very  nature  a  destructive  influence  more 
direct  and  unbroken,  than  that  which  he  exercised 
by  his  occasional  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men. 
Let  us  now,  in  addition  to  the  appalling  amount 
of  good  which  he  has  destroyed  in  this  way,  con- 
template him  in  the  relations  of  a  husband  and 
father.  His  partner  may  also  be  a  sinner,  but  may 
not  be  so  callous,  and  so  profoundly  at  ease  as  he, 
in  view  of  sustaining  such  a  character  in  the  sight 
of  a  holy  God!  On  some  occasion,  it  may  be  when 
she  has  been  to  the  sanctuary  on  the  Sabbath,  the 
divine  word  has  come  with  pungency  and  power 
to  her  conscience  and  her  heart.  She  has  returned 
to  her  home  in  sadness  and  in  tears.  She  has  sought 
an  opportunity  of  being  alone  with  her  Bible  and 
her  God.  But  with  the  sagacity  of  a  fiend,  her  hus- 
band suspects  the  cause  of  her  sorrow,  breaks  in 
upon  her  retirement,  and  there,  by  the  power  of  ri- 
dicule, or  by  a  false  appeal  to  her  love  for  him,  or 
in  the  sternness  of  his  authority  as  a  husband,  he 
plies  every  susceptibility  of  her  nature  that  is 
adapted  to  impel  her  to  abandon  the  concerns  of 
her  soul.  He  tells  her,  it  is  religious  melancholy, 
superstitious  gloom,  to  feel  as  she  does,  and  that 
continuing  to  feel  thus,  their  wedded  happiness 
must  speedily  come  to  an  end,  and  his  affections  be 
alienated  from  her !  Bj^  his  constant  intercourse 
with  her,  he  reiterates  these  arguments  and  efforts, 
till,  in  utter  discouragement,  she  dismisses  her  last 
resolve  to  secure  the  soul's  salvation,  grieves  away 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  becomes  seared  and  insensible 
as  her  destroyer.  And  now,  in  his  relation  as  a 
father,  with  a  partner  thus  conformed,  by  his  fearful 


SERMON  xir.  279 

j)0\ver  of  persuasion,  in  sinful  character  to  himself, 
what  will  be  his  destructive  influence  on  their  chil- 
dren, whose  moral  feelings  are  modelled  almost  ex- 
clusively after  the  pattern  of  their  father,  to  whom, 
in  the  simple  confidence  of  their  young  hearts,  they 
look  up  as  their  guide  and  exemplm"  in  every  virtue. 
His  character  as  a  sinner  is  making  its  deep  and 
enduring  impressions  on  them,  with  all  the  fa- 
cilities afforded  by  their  young,  susceptible,  con- 
fiding hearts,  and,/^/^  constant  contact  with  them  in 
the  authority,  reverence,  obedience,  and  all  the  filial 
affection  due  from  them  to  him,  in  the  endeared  re- 
lation of  a  father.  How  readily  will  his  weight  of 
influence,  bearing  with  unintermitted  pressure,  for 
the  first  ten  or  fifteen  years,  on  the  opening  and 
plastic  minds  of  his  children,  omsh  out  from  ihem 
the  last  feeling  of  the  fear  of  God  which  lingered 
and  struggled  for  existence  there!  Then,  while 
this  one  sinner  has  had  a  divided  or  diluted  influ- 
ence in  destroying  much  good  in  the  souls  of  multi- 
tudes, with  whom  he  met  in  his  social  intercourse, 
over  the  companion  of  his  life,  and  the  children 
whom  God  hath  given  him,  he  has  wielded  a  certain 
destruction,  all  his  own.  That  husband  and  father 
will  "  not  perish  alone  in  his  iniquity!  !" 

Again. — In  this  estimate  of  one  sinner's  power 
to  destroy  much  good,  in  no  respect  have  we  con- 
sidered him  as  having  a  peculiar  or  commanding 
influence  above  others.  He  has  been  supposed  to 
belong  to  the  thousands,  in  the  ordinary  and  unob- 
served walks  of  life.  But  let  us  now  behold  him 
in  the  adventitious  relations  of  rank,  ivcalth,  and 
education,  and  mark  how  his  facilities  for  destroy- 


280  SERMON  XII. 

ing  much  good,  over  every  department  of  society, 
are  thus  multiplied.  How  much  more  extensively 
is  he  known  amongst  all  classes!  How  many  mi- 
nions, and  pitiful  parasites,  flatterers,  and  feigned 
admirers,  will  his  rank  and  riches  obtain  for  him, 
and  bring  under  the  sway  of  his  influence  as  a  sin- 
ner !  What  multitudes,  who  cannot  or  will  not 
think  for  themselves,  will  give  an  easy  credence  to 
the  crude  and  contradictory  dogmas  of  his  infidel 
creed,  because  he  has  the  reputation  of  an  educated 
gentleman.  What  multitudes  of  his  equals,  will  his 
leisure,  and  his  facilities  of  travelling,  and  of  social 
intercourse,  bring  within  the  potent  sweep  of  his 
destructive  influence !  The  factitious  splendour 
which  station,  honours,  wealth,  and  education  give, 
even  to  the  vices  of  their  possessors,  and  the  servile 
imitation  of  those  vices,  by  almost  all  classes,  are 
facts  too  notorious  to  require  comment.  Now,  you 
will  perceive,  that  one  sinner  of  this  character,  has 
a  power  of  destroying  much  good,  which  not  only 
extends  over  the  same  length,  from  youth  up  to  old 
age,  but  has  an  additional,  and  almost  indefinite 
BREADTH,  denied  to  his  obscure,  and  less  gifted  fel- 
low in  crime.  Assuredly,  then,  if  one  private,  un- 
lettered sinner,  can  destroy  his  thousands,  this  sin- 
ner, in  his  rank,  and  honours,  his  wealth,  and  learned 
leisure,  can  destroy  his  tens  of  thousands!  And, 
suppose  further,  that  this  one  sinner  has  a  highly 
gifted,  richly  stored  mind,  and  holds  to  the  public 
the  relation  of  an  author,  and  sheds  over  his  skep- 
tical and  licentious  pages  the  inspiration  and  the 
charm  of  real  genius!  Now,  with  such  facilities 
of  printing,  and  such  an  immense,  and  ever-widen- 


SERMON  XII.  281 

ing  circle  of  readers  as  characterize  our  clay,  it  is 
olDvious,  that  as  an  author,  he  can  have  a  kind  of 
contact  and  communion  with  a  multitude  of  minds, 
whom,  with  all  his  facilities  of  an  extended  personal 
acquaintance,  the  arm  of  his  destructive  power  could 
never  have  reached.  The  solitary  individual  of 
real  genius,  who  employs  the  press  to  imbody,  and 
send  abroad  the  peculiarities  of  his  character  as  a  sin- 
ner, may  live  in  a  ubiquitous  energy  to  destroy  much 
good  over  the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  whole  ci- 
vilized world.  How  many  licentious  skeptics  did 
Hume,  and  Gibbon,  and  some  of  their  weak  imita- 
tors, and  wicked  admirers  make,  in  their  own  day, 
though  these  authors  themselves,  may  have,  long 
since,  been  taught  in  a  most  summary  manner,  to 
"  believe  and  tremble !^^  What  mighty  desolations 
were  wrought  in  the  moral  feelings  of  multitudes, 
by  the  works  of  Lord  Byron,  while  they  were  still 
wet  from  the  press,  and  sought  after,  as  they  were, 
with  the  cravings  of  a  morbid  appetite,  whet  to  un- 
natural acuteness,  by  the  dela}^  of  each  expected 
volume !  How  much  mad  misanthropy,  sickly- 
sensibility,  dark,  and  defying  skepticism,  unbridled 
passion,  and  remorseless  lust,  may  have  usurped  the 
place  of  better  feelings  in  the  bosoms  of  his  un- 
numbered readers.  Omniscience  only  can  compute! 
How  many  youth  have  been  hopelessly  corrupted, 
by  that  one  editorial  sinner,  v/ho  projected  the  plan 
of  publishing  "  Don  Juan,"  in  a  separate  form,  lest 
the  luhole  works  of  the  noble  bard  might  be  too  ex- 
pensive to  ensure  an  easy  and  wide  circulation! 
What  an  awful  triumph  have  these  two  small  volumes, 
liius  sent  foilh,  nrliievod  over  tiie  restraints  of  purity 
21^ 


282  SERMON  XII. 

and  youthful  virtue.  They  have  taught  the  young, 
that  the  sacredness  of  wedded  chastity  may  be  vio- 
lated without  remorse! — and  this  lesson  has  been 
impressed  on  their  imagination,  with  all  the  wit  and 
charms  which  the  genius  of  a  Byron  could  impart 
to  the  successful  adventures  of  the  young  adulterer, 
who  is  the  hero  of  his  song,  and  has  been  "  burnt 
in  upon  their  memory,"  by  the  immortal  fires  of 
his  poetry.  Verily,  my  hearers,  one  sinner  who  is 
an  author,  or  even  a  compiler  and  publisher,  may 
destroy  an  immeasurable  amount  of  good,  beyond 
that  which  he  will  destroy  in  the  sphere  of  his  own 
social  influence. 

Allied  to  this  kind  of  power,  to  destroy  mucli 
good,  is  that  with  wiiich  the  relation  of  public  and 
important  offices  invests  the  sinner.  Let  him  be 
a  barrister,  perverting  his  office  to  the  purpose 
of  litigation,  and  defending  fraud  and  crime,  by 
''making  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason;" — or 
let  him  be  a  chief  justice  on  the  bench,  "  turning- 
judgment  away  backward,"  causing  to  be  recorded, 
diS precedents,  his  iniquitous  decisions,  confounding 
the  distinctions  of  right  and  wrong,  conniving  at 
vice,  and  setting  up  villany  on  high,  under  the 
sanctions  of  the  supreme  law — and  what  a  destruc- 
tion of  all  respect  for  law  itself,  and  of  all  regard 
for  the  rights  of  others,  and  of  all  reverence  for  the 
eternal  principles  of  justice,  will  he  thus  effect  in 
the  hearts  of  thousands,  to  say  nothing  of  the  weight 
which  his  office  in  itself  will  give  to  his  example  as 
a  sinner,  in  the  daily  walks  of  private  life!  Or 
let  this  one  sinner  occupy  a  high  place  in  the  coun- 
cils or  cabinet  of  a  nation;  and  if  he  be  a  master 


SERMON  XII.  283 

spirit,  thoroughly  versed  in  modern  politics,  what 
wholesale  havoc  of  good  over  the  extent  of  the 
nation,  will  he  effected  by  the  power  of  a  selfish  and 
cunning  diplomacy,  or  a  reckless  and  mad  partisan 
legislation.  And  then  his  morals  and  every  pecu- 
liarity of  his  character  as  a  sinner,  are  rendered  more 
efficiently  destructive  on  others,  by  the  adventitious 
charms  in  which  the  mere  height  of  his  office  dis- 
plays him,  and  by  that  blind  and  superstitious  re- 
verence which  the  multitude  in  every  nation  feel 
towards  those  who  are  exalted  to  the  control  of  their 
political  interests,  and  destinies.  How  much  wrang- 
ling, caning,  duelling.  Sabbath-breaking,  drunken- 
ness, and  debauchery,  have  been  diffused  through 
this  country,  the  last  few  years,  by  the  example  of 
some  members  of  congress.  Within  the  last  twenty 
years,  a  blow  has  been  struck  by  some  of  the  high- 
est civil  functionaries  against  the  political  integrity, 
the  national  morality,  and  public  virtue,  which  has 
destroyed  more  good  than  the  best  and  brightest 
examples  in  those  high  places  will  repair  for  a  cen- 
tury to  come ! 

In  illustrating  our  subject,  we  are  justified  in 
taking  the  strongest  cases  of  individual  power  for 
mischief  which  the  history  of  the  world  presents. 
Let  this  one  sinner,  then,  be  the  enthroned  despot 
of  a  mighty  nation,  invested  with  an  absolute  supre- 
macy over  its  civil  and  religious  interests  and  des- 
tinies, and  during  a  short  reign,  what  a  plenitude  of 
power  to  destroy  much  good  will  he  possess.  Like 
Nero,  he  can  with  all  despatch,  not  merely  bring  to 
the  verge  of  ruin  the  temporal  interests  of  an  em- 
pire, but  kill   the  prophets,  scatter  the   ^^eople,  an 


284  SERMON  XII. 

dig  down  the  altars  of  the  living  God,  over  the  ex- 
tent of  his  dominions.  By  his  own  arbitrary,  un- 
checked will,  he  can  protect  and  patronise  indivi- 
dual and  national  crime. 

Or,  let  this  one  sinner  be  high  in  military  f^ffice, 
let  him  be  an  Alexander  or  a  Bonaparte,  travelling 
like  them  "  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,"  on  the 
dark  march  of  his  ambition,  rolling  up  and  lashing 
into  fury  the  wrathful  and  malignant  passions  of 
more  than  half  the  population  of  the  world,  tramp- 
ling out  of  unnumbered  minds  all  just  estimate  of 
the  worth  and  the  sacredness  of  human  life,  and 
sending,  prematurely,  a  countless-  host  from  the 
blood  of  the  battle  ground,  in  the  blood-guiltiness 
of  their  souls,  to  the  bar  of  God! !  Our  spirits  sink 
within  us,  as  we  contemplate  the  good  which  one 
such  sinner  can  destroy  in  a  short  career,  and  within 
the  limits  of  his  own  official  influence.  But  if  these 
examples  of  civil  and  military  characters  high  in 
office,  should  seem  to  be  invidious,  then,  let  this 
one  sinner  be  clothed  with  the  sacred  office  of  an 
ambassador  of  Christ,  let  him  be  an  unconverted 
minister  !  How  shall  we  estimate  his  power  of  de- 
stroying much  good  !  To  give  scope  and  energy  to 
his  capabilities  of  mischief,  he  can  invoke  the  aid  of 
all  the  imposing  solemnities  and  awful  insignia  of 
his  commission  as  '^  a  legate  of  the  skies."  To  give 
currency  and  credence  to  his  errors  and  latitudina- 
rian  sentiments,  to  transfer  his  own  convictions  to 
other  minds,  and  transfuse  through  them  his  own 
spirit,  to  warp  their  consciences,  and  model  their 
hearts  after  his  own  fashion,  he  can  avail  himself  of 
tlie   tremendous  power,  not  only  of  the  religious 


SERMON  xir.  285 

principle,  but  of  all  those  deep-rooted  and  hallowed 
associations  connected  witli  the  administrations  of 
the  altar  and  of  the  sanctuary  of  God  !  Indeed,  it 
is  from  this  source  that  the  vices  of  his  private  life 
draw  their  most  deep  and  damning  influence.  And 
if  he  have  an  uncommon  share  of  the  fires  of  origi- 
nal genius,  he  may  electrify  that  great  chain  of  mo- 
ral sympathy  which  will  communicate  a  destructive 
shock  to  the  most  remote  dwellers  in  Christendom! ! 
No  other  office  clothes  a  sinner  with  so  terrific  a 
power  of  destroying  much  good  as  this  !  He  has 
fire  from  heaven  of  such  intensity  as  to  consume  a 
holocaust  of  victims  as  a  sacrifice  to  his  depravity. 
He  has  weapons  of  celestial  temper,  and  of  fearful 
capacity  to  destroy,  when  wielded  by  his  hand  as  a 
sinner  in  holy  orders.  He  perverts  the  very  "  sword 
of  the  Spirit'^  into  an  implement  of  eternal  death  to 
souls!!  0!  what  is  the  power  of  a  Machiavelli  in 
diplomacy,  or  of  a  Nero  on  the  throne,  or  an  Alex- 
ander and  a  Bonaparte  with  the  world  as  a  battle- 
field, compared  with  his  who  uses  the  holy  office  of 
the  ministry  with  all  its  deep  and  incalculable  in- 
fluences on  man,  as  the  means  of  driving  souls  from 
this  world  of  probation,  into  the  perdition  of  an 
eternal  hell ! 

But  in  order  to  present  the  truth  that  one  sinner 
destroyeth  much  good,  in  a  still  more  appalling  light, 
we  must  now  notice  a 

H.  Great  general  principle  in  the  philosophy  of 
fallen  man,  that  is,  the  certain  inter-communica- 
tion, or  easy  and  rapid  diffusion  of  evil  in  our 
world.  No  contagion  is  so  rapidly  diffusive  as  the 
contagion  of  folly,  "  because  the  physical  constitu- 


286  SERMON  XII. 

lion  of  fallen  man  is  in  direct  sympathy  with  those 
passions  which  most  readily  manifest  themselves  in 
the  features,  the  attitude,  the  action,  the  language, 
the  tone  of  voice,  the  turn  of  a  hand;"  hence,  every 
human  face  becomes  a  medium  of  transmission  and 
diffusion,  for  we  cannot  but  be  moved  more  or  less 
by  what  we  witness  of  feeling  in  others ;  so  that  the 
whole  surface  of  society,  in  many  of  its  phases,  be- 
comes, in  the  propagation  of  vice,  what  an  epidemic 
constitution  of  atmosphere  is  in  the  spread  of  literal 
disease.  Let  this  principle  be  borne  in  mind  in  the 
subsequent  remarks  under  this  head. 

Now,  we  have  hitherto  considered  the  sinner's 
power  of  destruction  as  extending  only  to  those 
with  whom  he  came  in  actual  contact,  either  per- 
sonally or  by  his  writings.  But  this  is  a  defective 
estimate,  for  each  one  with  whom  the  sinner  through 
life  comes  in  contact,  and  on  whom  he  makes  a  de- 
structive impression,  has  also  his  individual  and  se- 
parate sphere  of  influence  over  numbers  unknown 
to  the  first;  and  his  pursuits,  and  the  ever-shifting 
fortunes  of  the  world,  may  carry  him  over  large 
portions  of  it  where  the  first  has  never  travelled. 
Thus,  a  single  infidel  taunt  or  jeer  against  religion, 
or  a  solitary  obscene  anecdote,  told  by  one  sinner 
in  a  moment  of  thoughtless  mirth  to  an  individual 
companion,  may  be  repeated  in  all  its  damning  ef- 
fect to  m,ultitudes  with  whom  that  one  sinner  has 
had  no  personal  communication.  And  these  multi- 
tudes, in  their  turn,  all  forming  separate  starting 
points,  from  each  of  which  this  accursed  influence 
may  radiate  over  other  multitudes.  Thus  it  goes 
on  by  a  kind  of  geometrical  progression,  which  ter- 


SERMON  Xll.  ^87 

minatcs  at  last  in  a  comparative  infinity!  From 
the  extreme  susceptibility  of  evil  impression  by  the 
depraved  heart,  and  the  strong  bias  in  favour  of  sin 
from  taste  and  habit,  it  would  seem  as  though  there 
were  a  great  law  of  moral  contagion,  by  which 
one  solitary  sinner  might  infect  the  world!  "The 
whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness.''  There  is  a  sin 
that  is  said  to  set  on  fire  the  course  of  nature.  The 
world  of  iniquity  is  as  fuel  sun-dried  and  heated  to 
the  point  of  combustion,  and  only  requiring  a  spark 
of  unhallowed  fire  to  kindle  it  into  a  blaze  over  the 
whole  extent,  with  a  rapidity  and  universality  like 
that  which  we  picture  of  the  final  conflagration!! 
Hence,  it  is  apparent,  that  the  good,  much  as  it  is, 
which  one  sinner  destroys  by  his  own  immediate 
influence,  bears  no  more  proportion  to  the  whole 
amount  destroyed  by  him  through  this  great  prin- 
ciple of  the  inter-communication,  or  easy  diffusion 
of  evil,  than  the  first  ripple  of  the  water  immedi- 
ately round  the  stone  thrown  into  it,  does  to  the 
sweep  of  those  far  extending  circles  which  go  on 
widening  their  circumferences  over  the  unresisting 
surface  long  after  the  centre  has  become  calm. 

It  will  enhance  our  conceptions  of  the  amazing 
power  of  one  sinner  to  destroy  much  good,  if  we 

III.  Advert  here  to  a  third  great  general  princi- 
ple in  the  philosophy  of  depraved  human  nature, 
namely,  the  continuous  descent,  or  protracted 
transmission  of  evil  through  successive  ages  of  the 
world.  You  will  now  call  to  mind  the  fact,  that  in 
all  the  preceding  remarks  it  has  been  assumed  that 
the  sinner's  power  of  destruction,  however  widely 
diffused,  continued  no  longer  than  during  his  own 


288  SEHMON  XIL 

life-time,  and  that  of  his  cotemporaries.  But  this 
is  by  no  means  the  limit  of  his  influence,  particularly 
in  the  case  of  one  sinner  who  is  a  successful  and 
celebrated  author,  or  whose  exalted  station  and  of- 
fice have  given  him  a  prominence  in  history.  There 
is  a  great  law  of  descent,  as  well  as  of  the  easy  and 
wide  diffusion  of  evil,  by  which  its  transmission 
from  generation  to  generation  goes  onward  and  still 
onward  indefinitely.  The  inherited  and  tradition- 
ary evil  now  in  the  world,  forms  a  subject  of  strange 
and  appalling  speculation  !  There  may  be  a  sinner 
in  this  house  to-day,  who,  if  he  could  analj^ze  criti- 
cally, and  trace  to  their  ultimate  sources,  all  those 
influences  which  have  concurred  to  destroy  much 
good  in  his  soul,  might  find  that  one  sinner  back  in 
the  dark  ages,  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  had 
struck  a  blow  which  reached  him  at  this  distance  ! 
Yes,  the  last  murderer  executed,  pursuing  a  similar 
analysis  and  investigation,  might  find  that  a  part  of 
the  complicated  influences  that  determined  him  on 
the  foul  deed,  was  a  certain  impression  made  by  the 
character  of  Cain  himself,  and  neither  washed  out 
by  the  deluge,  nor  obliterated  by  any  of  the  revolu- 
tions and  vicissitudes  of  subsequent  time  ! !  This 
may  seem  strained,  startling,  and  incredible.  But 
is  it  not  a  fact  indisputable,  that  we  are  now  dis- 
tinctly affected  by  the  conduct  of  the  first  trans- 
gressor, and  that,  too,  not  solely  on  the  ground  of 
a  divine  constitution  or  federal  relationship  between 
Adam  and  his  posterity,  but  also  by  that  great  law 
of  the  transmission  of  evil  from  mind  to  mind, 
which,  when  not  controlled  by  special  divine  influ- 
ence, is  just  as  uniform  and  incessant  in  its  opera- 


SERMON  XII.  2SD 

tlon,  as  are  the  immutable  laws  of  nature.  How- 
ever, languages,  and  arts,  and  literature,  and  govern- 
ments, and  manners,  may  change,  the  minda  of  every 
preceding  generation  influence  for  good  or  for  evil 
the  minds  of  the  one  that  succeeds  it.  In  the  whole 
liistory  of  man  did  a  generation  ever  spring  up  and 
display  a  moral  character  in  no  wise  modified  or  in- 
fluenced by  the  one  immediately  preceding?  Now 
if  this  cannot  be,  as  all  will  admit,  you  perceive, 
then,  that  through  everi/  goieration,  onward  for 
ever,  the  chain  of  communication  must  remain  com- 
plete and  unbroken,  save  in  those  insulated  cases  of 
divine  interference,  which  form  the  exceptions  only 
to  the  general  rule. 

Hence,  after  all  the  terrific  power  with  which  we 
have  hitherto  considered  this  one  sinner  invested, 
we  now  find  him  reaching  forth  a  mysterious  might, 
by  which,  through  this  great  law  of  the  transmis- 
sion of  evil,  he  is  capable  of  carrying  on  most  effec- 
tively, the  work  of  destruction  commenced  while 
living,  long  ages  after  he  shall  have  received  his 
eternal  doom  !  !  He  may  thus  "  stretch  out  a  line 
of  desolation  over  many "  future  "  generations.'' 
His  mischief  has  been  concerned  more  especially 
with  the  faculty  by  which  the  mind  establishes  as- 
sociations that  regulate  the  currents  of  thought,  and 
it  thus  tends  to  raise  and  roll  on  a  tremendous  tide 
of  destruction,  which  will  never  be  stayed,  nor  find 
its  level,  till  it  pass  the  bounds  of  time,  and  mingle 
in  the  stormy  lake  of  death  and  hell.  And  this 
leads  me  to  advert  briefly  to  a 

IV.  Great  general  principle  in  the  philosophy  of 
fallen  man,  that  gives  the  climax  to  the  sinner's 
25 


290  ^EilMON  xil. 

power  of  destroying  much  good,  which  is^  ike  irre- 
vocable  or  reverseless  character  that  pertains  to  evil 
actions.  A  destruction,  however  great,  that  can  be 
repaired,  is  not  to  be  compared,  in  real  magnitude, 
with  one  much  smaller  in  itself,  which  is  utterly 
and  absolutely  irreparable.  And  such,  emphati- 
cally, is  the  good  destroyed  by  one  sinner.  The 
destruction  of  one  virtuous  sentiment  in  an  immor- 
tal mind,  if  God  interfere  not,  will  be  as  lasting  as 
the  existence  of  that  mind.  And  even  where  a  glo- 
rious divine  sovereignty  overrules  human  wicked- 
ness for  good,  it  is  not  by  re-creating  the  precise 
good  destroyed,  or  by  annihilating  the  evil  act  done. 
That  remains,  and  will  remain,  an  evil  act  done,  as 
reverseless  as  final  doom.  The  precise  good  de- 
stroyed in  a  given  case,  will  remain  a  blot  on  the 
moral  map  of  the  universe,  a  blight  on  the  beauty 
of  the  intelligent  creation  through  all  eternity  !  We 
speak  with  reverence,  when  we  say  that  it  is  not  a 
legitimate  object  of  the  power  of  God  himself  to 
render  it  otherwise  !  The  greatest  of  living  preach- 
ers, in  his  day,  once  said,  that  "  the  wheels  of  nature 
were  not  made  to  roll  backward.'^  So  sin  and  its 
destructive  tendency  are  changeless  and  returnless 
as  the  course  of  nature,  and  will  be  endless  as  the 
circle  of  eternal  years. 

Now,  in  making  up  the  mighty  aggregate  of  good 
which  one  sinner  destroys  through  the  medium  of 
all  his  relations,  social,  domestic,  public,  political; 
his  relations  of  wealth,  learning,  ofiice,  and  station 
perverted;  all  that  he  destroys  through  the  great 
principle  of  the  easy  and  rapid  difiusion  of  evil; 
through  the  fixed  law  of  the  perpetual  and  unbroken 


SERMON  XII.  291 

descent  of  evil  over  all  generations,  just  remember 
that  it  is  the  good  of  iminorlal  souls  that  is  de- 
stroyed, and  then  add  to  it  all  this  awful  attribute 
of  irrevocability,  this  sure  seal  of  aii  everlasting 
REVERSELESSNEss!  and  we  may  lift  up  our  hands  in 
awe,  and  exclaim,  ^'Lct  God  be  true,  though  every 
man  be  a  liar,"  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spo- 
ken it — "One  sinner  destroyeth  much  good!!" 

To  conclude.  This  subject  gives  us  an  over- 
whelming view  of  the  responsibility  of  those  who 
sustain  the  character  of  sinners  under  the  govern- 
ment of  God.  Sinner,  settle  it  in  your  heart,  that 
it  is  an  unspeakably  solemn  thing  to  have  an  exis- 
tence in  a  scene  like  this,  and  to  have  your  charac- 
ter and  conduct  inseparably  linked  with  the  eternal 
results  of  those  moral  causes  that  have  diffused  and 
perpetuated  evil  in  our  world! !  Let  it  never  for  a 
moment  hereafter,  escape  your  memory  that  the  in- 
fluence of  your  character  as  a  sinner,  is  not  confined 
merely  to  your  own  destiny  in  this  or  in  the  future 
world.  You  are  connected  with  your  species  by 
the  sympathies  of  a  common  nature,  and  bound  up 
with  them  in  an  economy  of  such  mutual  influ- 
ences, that  the  character  of  your  mind  in  its  volun- 
tary wickedness,  will  stamp  its  evil  impression  on 
other  minds  with  as  fixed  and  absolute  certainty 
as  heavy  bodies  gravitate!  It  is  vain  for  you  to 
complain  of  such  a  divine  constitution,  or  to  attempt 
to  gainsay  or  resist  it.  You  can  never  escape  from 
those  fixed  and  eternal  laws  of  mental  action  and  in- 
fluence which  arise  from  the  very  nature  of  spirit. 
When  you  think  of  yourself  as  only  one  of  the  hun- 
dred millions  of  the  race,  your  existence  may  seem 


292  SERMON  XIT. 

unimportant  as  the  drop  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean. 
But,  in  the  great  balance  of  the  physical  universe, 
is  there  even  one  drop  in  the  ocean  unimportant? 
Were  one  drop  changed  or  annihilated,  might  it  not 
produce  a  change  in  the  relative  position  of  all  the 
minute  particles  that  form  that  world  of  waters? 
And  how  do  you  know  that  one  solitary  sinful  act 
of  yours  may  not  disturb  the  balance  and  perpetu- 
ate a  jar  in  the  nicely  adjusted  elements  of  the  moral 
universe  for  ever?  I  pray,  then,  that  not  one  of 
you  lose  sight  of  yourself  as  an  individual  in  the 
myriad  multitudes  of  the  race  with  which  you  are 
connected,  nor  think  lightly  of  your  personal  influ- 
ence and  responsibility,  from  the  strong  examples  I 
have  adduced  of  sinners  who,  from  their  talents, 
wealth,  rank,  and  office,  may  have  a  gigantic  power 
of  mischief.  After  all,  it  requires  neither  genius 
nor  talents  to  be  a  sinner,  and  to  destroy  much  good. 
The  mere  school-boy  or  the  dullest  individual  may 
wield  a  terrific  power  of  destroying  good,  and  incur 
by  it  an  awful  responsibility  at  the  bar  of  God. 

My  dear  young  friends, — you  who  sport  with  the 
solemnities  of  your  existence  and  make  a  mock  at 
sin, — will  you  not  pause  now,  and  reflect  on  your 
character  as  sinners,  armed  with  weapons  that  are 
carrying  a  wide  and  woful  destruction  over  all  that 
is  most  valued  in  the  eye  of  God,  and  of  the  holy 
universe?  I  address  some  here  to-day  who  enjoy 
the  blessings  of  education,  and  whose  sanguine 
youthful  hopes  tell  them  that  they  may  yet  fill 
some  of  the  first  places  of  honour,  power,  and  trust 
in  this  great  nation.  What  think  you,  then,  of  sus- 
taining the  character  of  sinners  through  the  antici- 


SERMON  XII.  293 

pated  career  of  your  future  greatness?  What  think 
you,  at  death,  of  leaving  your  "  wickedness  in  high 
places"  as  a  mighty  rock  to  be  rolled  down  after 
you,  on  its  thundering  way  of  destruction,  over  all 
generations,  till,  in  "  the  deepest  hell,"  it  crushes 
you  so  that  you  will  "  find  a  deeper  still,"  to  which 
the  hell  you  suffer  simply  for  destroying  yourself 
will  "seem  a  heaven!"  'What  youthful  heart,  not 
brutalized  by  vice,  would  not  ache  and  bleed  with 
regret  at  the  thought  of  sweeping  with  the  besom 
of  destruction  so  vast  a  territory  of  good  as  will  be 
reached  by  the  influence  of  any  one  sinner? 

My  young  hearers,  let  me  assure  you  that  there 
is  but  one  way  in  which  you  can  possibly  prevent 
the  mischief;  and  that  is,  by  an  entire  change  of 
character  on  your  part.  No  change  will  be  made 
in  the  economy  of  the  world  to  avert  the  conse- 
quences of  your  sins.  You  rnust  cease  to  be  a 
sijiner,  or  the  word  of  God  and  the  constitution  of 
nature  stand  pledged  for  it  that  you  will  inevitably 
destroy  much  good!  If,  then,  you  would  prevent 
results  so  eternally  disastrous  as  have  now  been  de- 
scribed, you  must  repent  and  be  converted,  and  be- 
come a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus — created  in  him 
unto  good  works  by  the  Holy  Spirit!  This  is  the 
only  thing  that  can  ever  break  the  dreadful  con- 
nexion between  a  sinner  and  his  influence  in  de- 
stroying much  good.  Oh,  that  I  knew  how  to  bring 
the  appeal  of  God's  eternal  love — of  a  Saviour's 
weeping  compassion — of  the  prayers  and  throbbing 
anxieties  of  parents  and  pious  friends — of  the  hopes 
of  heaven,  to  bear  upon  your  young  hearts,  so  that 
you  would  now  repent  and  turn  to  God,  and  throw 
25* 


294  SERMON  XII. 

away  those  awful  weapons  of  destruction  with  which 
you  are  at  present  armed!  Or,  if  you  will  not  be 
thus  won  to  submission,  let  me  then  endeavour  to 
deter  you  from  taking  another  step  in  your  destruc- 
tive career,  by  appealing  to  your  fears.  Will  you, 
then,  look  up  steadfastly  and  behold  one  sinner  be- 
fore yonder  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  when  "the 
great  day  of  his  wrath  hath  come?"  The  mystery 
of  his  iniquity,  that  has  been  so  long  and  so  widely 
working,  is  now  brought  out  from  its  retirements 
and  lurking-places  with  all  its  tremendous  results, 
and  displayed  in  the  broad  light  of  an  open  eternity; 
and  the  joints  of  his  loins,  though  made  strong  for 
immortal  suffering,  are  loosed,  and  the  knees  of  his 
resurrectionary  body  smite  one  against  another  as 
the  sinner  himself  gazes  on  its  magnitude!  Before 
him  is  his  own  eternal  perdition,  a  deed  of  his  own 
doing — hell  laid  bare,  and  moved  to  meet  him  at 
his  coming!  Behind  him  the  long,  haggard  ranks 
whom  he  has  destroyed,  gnashing  their  teeth  in  the 
rage  and  the  agony  of  the  damned  at  their  destroyer, 
and  ready  to  leap  on  him  as  did  the  demons  on  the 
seven  sons  of  Sceva;  above,  the  uplifted  arm  of  in- 
sulted almighty  justice,  poising  the  bolt  that  is  to 
strike  him  and  the  victims  of  his  influence  down 
perdition's  deeps  for  ever!  Oh,  by  all  the  unutter- 
able woes  of  his  everlasting  descent,  I  beseech,  I 
conjure  you  who  know  that  you  are  sinners,  "  Cease 
NOW  to  do  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well!" 


iERMON  XIII.  295 


SERMON   XIII 


"But  now  they  desire  a  better  country,  tlrat  is,  a  heavenly." — Heb. 
XI.  IG. 

In  peopling  this  earth,  every  voluntary  move- 
ment made  by  the  human  race  has  been  dictated 
by  a  desire  for  "a  better  country."  This  desire  has 
been  the  great  impulse  in  all  the  exploring  enter- 
prises of  the  world.  It  burned  in  the  bosom  of 
Columbus,  and  bore  him  over  unknown  seas  to  this 
western  continent.  The  desire  of  some  better  allot- 
ment than  we  at  present  enjoy,  is  inseparable  from 
our  very  nature.  So  well  known  is  this,  as  a  part 
of  our  original  constitution,  and  so  little  has  ever 
been  found  in  the  happiest  climes  of  earth  to  gratify 
this  desire,  that  it  accounts  for  the  origin  of  that 
beautiful  and  poetic  fancy  of  the  existence  of  a  still 
undiscovered  blissful  isle,  where  the  very  air  is  at- 
tempered to  delight,  where  the  flowers  of  spring 
never  fade,  where  is  to  be  found  the  fabled  fountain 
of  life  deep,  clear,  perennial,  sleeping  on  its  bed  of 
pearls,  and  where  man,  freed  from  the  wants  and 
the  woes  of  his  previous  condition,  may  luxuriate 
in  the  ardent  hopes,  and  lofty  aspirations  of  an  im- 
mortal youth.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark, 
that  this  is  but  a  ?nere  fancy,  that  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  this  little  world,  revolted  from  its  God, 
and  scathed  with  the  curse  of  the  apostacy,  there  is 


296  SERMON  XIII. 

no  such  happy  isle,  no  Elysian  fields.  Yet  God  has 
provided  for  this  instinctive  longing  of  our  spiritual 
nature  after  a  better  country.  Not  to  fancy,  but  to 
faith,  has  He  revealed  a  bright  and  blissful  world 
far  transcending  in  its  glory  the  most  splendid 
creations  of  poetic  genius.  God  has  disclosed  a 
realm  of  light  and  love,  of  beauty  and  repose  suffi- 
ciently exalted  and  grand  to  satisfy  the  largest  and 
loftiest  aspirings  of  the  soul,  after  an  immortal  ha- 
bitation. It  is  to  faith  only  that  this  brighter  land 
is  revealed.  The  author  of  our  text  decides  this 
when  he  remarks,  "These  all  died  in  faith,  not 
having  received  the  promises,  but  having  seen  them 
afar  off,  and  were  persuaded  of  them,  and  embraced 
them,  and  confessed  that  they  were  strangers  and 
pilgrims  on  earth.  For  they  that  say  such  things 
declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country.  And  truly, 
if  they  had  been  mindful  of  that  country  from 
whence  they  came  out,  they  might  have  had  oppor- 
tunity to  have  returned.  But  now  they  desire  a 
better  country,  that  is,  a  heavenly;  wherefore  God 
is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God,  for  he  hath 
prepared  for  them  a  city."  God  himself  has  pre- 
pared for  them  a  country,  a  city,  a  home  with  a 
garniture  which  will  amply  satisfy  the  refined  and 
exalted  taste,  the  boundless  hope  and  infinite  aspira- 
tions of  those  whom  He  is  not  ashamed  to  own  as 
his  redeemed,  adopted  ones. 

My  dear  hearers,  will  it  not  tend  to  strengthen 
our  faith,  and  to  lure  our  afiections  upwards,  if  we 
contemplate  for  awhile  this  better,  this  heavenly 
country,  which  we  too  profess  to  desire  ? 

In  what  respects,  then,  is  it  a  better  country? 


SERMON  XITI.  297 

I.  It  Is  better  as  to  ils  indlerialism,  or  as  to  its 
refined  and  glorious  j)hysical  elements. 

A  profound  writer  has  remarked,  that  "as  the 
mind  must,  in  all  periods  and  regions  of  its  exis- 
tence, receive  its  happiness  from  causes  exterior  to 
itself,  and  as  it  is  probable  the  one  Supreme  Cause 
of  that  happiness,  the  Deity,  will  make  a  very  great 
part  of  the  happiness  which  human  spirits  are  to 
receive  from  him,  come  to  them  through  the  medi- 
um of  his  works:  it  is  matter  of  inexpressible  exul- 
tation that  those  works  are  so  stupendous  in  multi- 
plicity and  magnitude,  that  they  are,  indeed,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  infinite."  We  may  add  also, 
that  as  in  all  immaterial  or  spiritual  existences, 
there  is  an  ascending  series  from  less  to  more  per- 
fect, till  the  climax  is  reached  in  the  absolute  and 
infinite  perfection  of  the  great  Father  of  our  spirits, 
so  analogy  renders  it  highly  probable  that  there  is 
a  similar  series  in  the  modifications  and  refinement 
of  physical  elements  in  all  the  material  worlds  of 
the  universe,  till  the  climax  is  reached  in  that  one 
which  God  has  made  as  the  theatre  for  the  more 
iinmediate  displays  of  his  own  glory,  and  as  the 
city  of  refuge,  and  eternal  rest  and  joy  to  his  own 
redeemed  people.  Regarding  our  earth  as  the  least 
and  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  created  worlds  inhabit- 
ed by  intelligent  beings,  we  nevertheless  find  that 
its  material  objects  have  a  beauty  and  a  sublimity 
which  make  them  sources  of  enjoyment  to  cultivated 
minds.  The  extended  plain  variegated  with  its 
rivers  and  lakes,  its  alternating  forests  and  luxuri- 
ant fields — the  massive  range  of  "cloud-capt" 
mountains    with   their    rocks   and    precipices,  and 


298  SERMON  XIIL 

waterfalls,  the  expanse  of  ocean,  the  splendours  of 
the  sun,  by  day,  rising,  culminating,  and  setting 
amidst  an  endless  variety  of  gorgeous  hues,  painting 
every  object  of  earth  and  sky,  the  nocturnal  heavens, 
cloudless,  and  calm,  studded  with  myriad  worlds  of 
far  off  light  and  glory,  these  all  appeal  to  the  senses, 
and  speak  a  language  to  the  soul  respecting  what 
God  can  prepare,  and  what  "he  hath  prepared" 
(for  them  that  love  him)  in  the  organization,  and 
arrangement  of  material  objects  in  the  "  better  coun- 
try." These  terrestrial,  and  visible  celestial  objects 
not  only  excite  peculiar  and  pleasurable  emotions 
in  a  mind  of  cultivated  taste,  and  acute  sensibility, 
but  show  what  an  endless  variety  of  modifications 
matter  is  susceptible  of  undergoing  beneath  the  plas- 
tic hand  of  the  Almighty.  These,  in  defiance  of 
the  disorders  introduced  by  sin,  make  our  world  a 
bright,  beautiful,  gladsome  habitation  for  sensitive 
creatures. 

Now  if  such  be  the  nature  of  the  material  objects 
in  the  country  "from  whence"  believers  "come 
out,"  what  must  be  the  materialism  or  physical  ele- 
ments of  that  better  country  which  they  desire? 
Must  not  every  object  there,  exhibit  a  refinement 
and  material  splendour  far  transcending  the  best 
and  brightest  forms  of  matter  on  earth? 

God  '' hdiih prepared  for  them  a  city."  It  hath 
^' foundations^^ — is  a  real  place  with  appropriate 
physical  arrangements  as  well  as  a  glorious  moral 
order.  But  how  shall  we  describe  its  material  mag- 
nificence! The  richest  combinations  and  the  most 
brilliant  colourings  of  unaided  fancy  are  too  poor 
and  faint  to  approach  such  a  task.     "  That  disciple 


SiittMON  XllL  290 

whom  Jesus   loved,"  was   once   favoured    with   a 
glimpse  of  this  city,  and  a  part  of  his  sublime  de- 
scription of  it  will  now.  be  transcribed.     "And  the 
building  of  the  wall  of  it  was  of  jasper  ;  and  the  city 
was  pure  gold,  like  unto  clear  glass,  and  the  foun- 
dations of  the  wall  of  the  city  were  garnished  with 
all  manner  of  precious  stones.     The  first  foundation 
was  a  jasper;  the  second,  sapphire;  the  third,  a  chal- 
cedony; the  fourth,  an  emerald;  the  fifth,  sardonyx; 
the    sixth,    sardius;    the   seventh,    chrysolite;    the 
eight,  beryl;  the  ninth,  a  topaz;  the  tenth,  a  chryso- 
prasus;  the  eleventh,  a  jacinth;  the  twelfth,  an  ame- 
thyst.    And  the  twelve  gates  were  twelve  pearls, 
every  several  gate  was  of  one  pearl;  and  the  street 
of  the  city  was  pure  gold,  as  it  were  transparent 
glass;  and  I  saw  no  temple  therein;  for  the  Lord 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it. 
And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the 
moon,  to  shine  in  it:  for  the  glory  of  God  did  light- 
en it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof."     It  is  ad- 
mitted that  the  language  of  this  description  is   not 
only  highly  metaphorical,  but  partakes  of  the  gor- 
geousness  of  oriental  diction.      Deducting  for  this, 
an   unsophisticated   mind  will,  notwithstanding,  re- 
ceive the  impression,  that  this  imagery  is  designed 
to  convey  the  idea  of  a  glorious  materialism  in  hea- 
ven.     What  less   can  be  meant  by   this  solicitous 
grouping  of  all  the  most  refined,  precious  and  bril- 
liant material  objects  apart,  and  distinct  from  that 
portion  of  the  description  which  obviously  refers 
to  what  IS  spiritual  m  the  celestial  economy?     And 
why  should  there  not  be   material  objects  in  that 
better    country,   corresponding    in    their   exquisite 


300  SERMON  XIII. 

forms,  refined  organization  and  resplendent  quali- 
ties, to  the  exalted  capacities  of  contemplation  and 
of  deep  emotion  which  will  characterize  the  inhabi- 
tants? The  difficulty  of  assenting  to  the  existence 
of  material  objects  in  heaven,  results  from  our  in- 
capacity to  conceive  of  physical  objects  almost  in- 
finitely different  in  refinement  and  grandeur  from 
those  of  earth.  This  incapacity  is  the  necessary 
consequence  of  our  having  no  personal  access  to  and 
close  communication  with  other  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  perhaps  no  apparatus  of  the  senses,  if  we 
had  such  access  and  communication,  by  which  we 
might  learn  the  wonders  and  the  glories  of  God's 
power,  in  the  mere  modifications  of  matter  which 
his  creative  hand  has  distributed  throughout  his 
empire.  Were  we  transferred  to  some  one  of  those 
distant  worlds  which  stand  as  a  luminous  point  on 
the  canvass  of  the  nightly  sky,  and  had  we  senses 
adapted  to  the  physical  elements  there,  we  might 
discover  a  refinement  and  resplendency  in  material 
objects  of  which  we  had  never  formed  the  remotest 
idea,  and  which  would  far  transcend  the  best  and 
brightest  conceptions  that  we  have  as  yet  enter- 
tained of  heaven  itself!  And  when  we  reflect  that 
this  "  better  country  "  of  which  our  text  speaks,  is 
the  more  immediate  seat  and  centre  of  Jehovah's 
universal  kingdom,  can  we  doubt  that  it  has  a  ma- 
terial magnificence  befitting  the  country,  the  court 
and  the  palace  of  "the  King  eternal,  immortal,  and 
invisible."  What  a  scenery  surrounds  that  celestial 
city  !  What  may  be  the  sublimity  of  "  the  mount 
Zion  above? — its  forest-clad  pinnacles,  clothed  in 
eternal  verdure — its  green  slopes  and  sunny  walks, 


i 


SERMON  XIII.  301 

not  for  "  weary  wandering  feet,"  but  for  "  the  ran- 
somed of  tlic  Lord  "  to  walk  tlierein  "with   songs 
and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads."     What  the 
majestic  flow  of  "  the  pure  river   of  the  water  of 
life,  clear  as  crystal,"  imaging  on  its  calm  bosom  the 
trees  of  life  that  adorn  its  banks  and  reflecting  from 
its  mirror  surface  other  bright  objects  of  that  super- 
nal world  !     What  must  be  the  atmosphere  of  glory 
that  floats  over  that  better  country  !     What  the  ar- 
ray of  beauty,  order,  harmony  and  absolute  perfec- 
tion which  the   material   objects  of  heaven  in   all 
their  arrangements  and  phases  exhibit !     What  ima- 
ges of  blessedness  and  deep  quietude,  of  innocence 
and  purity,  of  ineflable  grandeur  and  sublimity  will 
crowd  on  every  view  of  the  celestial  landscape  and 
extend  to  that  vast  horizon  which  encircles  all  the 
mighty   works  of  God!     And   what  will    be    the 
splendour  of  that  lofty  firmament  which  overspreads 
the   whole,  and   dispensing   with   sun,   moon,   and 
stars,  is  all  lighted    up  with  an   eternal  glow  from 
the  combined  and  richest  glories  of  God  and  the 
Lamb!     This  being  the  nature  of  heaven's  light, 
we    may   legitimately   infer    that   its   material    ob- 
jects must  have  an  exquisitely  refined,  ethereal   or- 
ganization, to  render  them  visible  through  such  a 
medium,  and  to  constitute  them  the  appropriate  re- 
flectors of  those  divine  rays  that  come  directly  from 
"/Ae  excellent  glory  /"     In  estimating  the  glorious 
materialism  of  that  better  country,  then,  we  may  as- 
sume that  its  ol)jects,  unlike   those  of  earth,  will 
never  be  subject  to  change  and   decay.     They  will 
remain  in  immortal  bloom  and  beauty,  the  perma- 
nent and  highest  evidences  of  God's  wisdom,  power, 
2Q 


302  SERMON  XIII. 

and  benevolence  in  creating  and  modifying  matter. 
Must  not  that  be  a  far  better  country  whose  mate- 
rial objects  have  been  created  and  arranged  to  suit 
the  immediate  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah — to  re- 
main as  the  noblest  specimens  of  his  infinite  skill 
in  the  material  universe,  and  to  contribute  to  the 
happiness  of  the  holy  for  ever? 

II.  It  is  a  better  country  as  respects  its  location. 
Here,  on  earth,  we  are  so  constituted,  that  we  are 
greatly  influenced  by  locality.  It  is  this  which 
often  determines  our  preference  of  places,  and  causes 
us  to  regard  a  particular  spot  as  "  better "  than 
others.  And  yet,  all  the  change  of  situation  which 
we  can  make  on  the  face  of  this  globe,  gives  us  but 
a  very  faint  idea  of  the  happiness  that  might  be  con- 
ferred by  a  particular  location.  Were  we  placed  on 
the  planet  Saturn,  and  capable  of  living  there,  we, 
doubtless,  would  have  new,  and  very  different  con- 
ceptions respecting  the  material  universe,  from  what 
we  now  possess,  and  in  the  superior  light  and  phy- 
sical scenery  of  that  world,  we  might  enjoy  a  happi- 
ness, of  which  at  present  we  cannot  form  the  most 
distant  conjecture.  So  the  location  of  some  other 
world,  w^ere  we  permitted  to  visit  it,  with  powers 
and  susceptibilities  adapted  to  its  natural  objects  and 
arrangements,  might  confer  on  us  a  happiness  in- 
comparably greater  than  that  of  our  supposed  trans- 
fer to  Saturn.  What  then  may  be  the  influence  ex- 
erted by  the  locality  of  the  "better  country,"  that 
is,  "'the  heavenly?"  From  the  earliest  notices  of 
the  opinions  of  mankind  on  this  subject,  and  from 
the  structure  of  all  languages,  ancient  and  modern, 
and  especially,  the  language  of  the  Scriptures,  the 


SERMON  xiir.  303 

impression  seems  to  be  universal,  that  heaven  is 
high  in  the  regions  of  space.  True,  the  terms  high 
and  low  are  relative,  and  the  relations  they  indicate 
have  no  place,  perhaps,  in  the  absolute  comprehen- 
sion which  the  Eternal  and  Infinite  Mind  has  of  all 
worlds,  and  all  existences.  But  the  relations  of 
high  and  low,  and  the  influence  of  locality,  will 
probably  continue  to  be  perceived  and  felt  by  all 
finite  intelligences,  in  all  periods  of  their  progress 
and  development.  Now,  as  heaven  is  a  real  mate- 
rial world,  and  doubtless,  the  largest  in  all  immen- 
sity, and  if  so,  as  it  must  attract  proportionally  all 
other  warlds  by  the  great  law  of  gravitation,  is  it 
not  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  it  is  the  loftiest  point 
— the  grand  centre  of  the  material  universe?  Tins 
supposition  is  confirmed  analogically  by  the  pheno- 
mena which  we  witness,  in  the  system  of  which  our 
globe  forms  a  part.  We  see  the  earth  and  the  pla- 
nets with  which  w'e  are  acquainted,  revolving  around 
the  sun  as  a  common  centre.  And  then,  if  modern 
science  be  not  at  fault,  we  find  the  sun  itself,  and 
the  whole  system  of  which  it  is  the  centre,  revolv- 
ing around  a  more  distant  and  vast  centre  of  another 
great  system — and  that  again,  revolving  around  a 
still  more  distant  and  mightier  centre  of  another  and 
greater  system,  and  ^o  on,  tilf  our  finite  powers  are 
exhausted  in  tracing  the  order  of  tliis  involuted  se- 
ries of  s3'Stems  to  an  ultimate  centre.  Is  it  not 
probable  then,  that  this  "  better  country,"  that  is, 
"  the  heavenly,"  is  the  last  and  the  loftiest  in  the 
ascending  series,  around  which,  as  a  grand  climac- 
teric centre,  all  the  rest  revolve?  What  a  location 
this!     All  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds  through 


304  SERMON  XIII. 

immensity,  revolving  round  it  in  their  ever-shifting 
and  novel  phases,  as  its  mere  planets !  What  a 
view  will  that  location  command  of  all  other  places 
where  creative  power  has  ever  been  exercised!  It 
is  the  sublime  observatory  which  God  has  erected 
for  holy  intelligences,  from  which  they  are  for  ever 
to  see,  and  admire,  and  adore  the  stupendous  exhi- 
bitions of  Jehovah's  creative  power  and  goodness. 
What  views  will  the  location  of  that  better  country 
open  through  the  height,  and  depth,  and  length,  and 
breadth  of  universal  nature.  It  is  the  vast  focus  of 
God's  entire  creation,  to  which  converge  all  those 
rays  of  material  glory,  which  gild  alike  the  nearest 
and  the  most  remote  world  of  immensity!  All  the 
mighty  products  of  God's  creative  energy  will  be 
spread  out  beneath  that  location,  and  lie  open  and 
unclouded  to  the  eye  of  immortal  spectators.  In 
addition  to  all  this,  and  as  a  peculiar  excellence  of 
this  location,  it  is  far  removed  from  all  those  fluctu- 
ations and  disturbances  to  which  matter  here  is  sub- 
jected, and  exempt  from  all  ungrateful  change  and 
disastrous  action  of  the  elements.  No  waning 
moons  nor  setting  suns  will  gather  the  shadows  of 
evening  or  the  gloom  of  night,  over  that  better 
country.  No  flood  or  ebbing  tides  will  leave  a 
trace  of  devastation  on  its  shores.  No  wintry  clouds 
and  snows  will  desolate  its  sunny  landscapes,  nor 
vernal  frosts  wither  its  rich  foliage,  nor  blight  its 
profusion  of  fruits  and  flowers.  No  lightnings  will 
scathe  its  lofty  cedars,  nor  shatter  spire  nor  dome 
of  its  celestial  city.  No  fires  will  ever  envelop  its 
forests  or  dwellings,  in  frightful  conflagration.  No 
whirlwind  or  tornado  shall  ever  agitate  its  peaceful, 


SERMON  XIII.  305 

balmy  air,  or  make  an  unsightly  chasm  in  its  bright 
objects.  No  earthquake  nor  volcano  shall  mar  its 
mountains  or  its  plains,  or  spread  terror  or  desola- 
tion through  its  quiet  homes.  That  better  country 
has  its  location  far,  and  for  ever  removed,  from  all 
the  violence  of  physical  elements — 

"From  noise  and  tumult  far, 
t  Beyond  the  flying  clouds,  beyond  the  stars 

And  all  this  passing  scene," 

where  not  a  sound  mingles  with,  or  disturbs  the 
harmony  of  that  music,  which  every  object,  like  the 
statue  of  Memnon,  gives  back  to  each  ray  of  ce- 
lestial light,  and  each  pulsation  of  air  that  visits  it ! 
0,  does  not  such  a  location  make  the  heavenly  a 
better  country  ! 

III.  It  is  a  better  country  because  it  has  better 
society.  In  our  estimate  of  the  different  countries 
of  earth,  we  are  greatly  influenced  by  the  state  of 
society  in  each.  As  social  beings,  we  cannot  be 
insensible  to  what  an  extent,  and  how  intimately 
our  happiness  is  connected  with  the  spirit  and 
character  of  those  with  whom  we  are  permanently 
in  fellowship.  The  highest  social  enjoyment  which 
can  be  attained  on  eartli,  results  from  a  state  of  so- 
ciety whose  predominant  characteristics  are  intelli- 
gence, pure  and  elevated  moral  sentiments,  and 
congeniality  of  taste,  and  of  the  benevolent  affec- 
tions. But  the  best  and  most  perfect  community  of 
mortals  associated  any  where  on  this  fallen  globe, 
will  find  a  remnant  of  the  selfish  and  sinful  passions 
still  existing  sufficient  to  mar  their  social  happiness. 
There  is  no  perfect  congeniality  of  mind,  no  perfect 
union  of  sympathies,  no  entire  and  unrestricted 
26* 


306  SERMON  xiir. 

blending  of  heart  with  heart,  in  this  nether  world. 
Sin  continues  to  blight  "  the  remaining  tints  of  that 
faded  social  loveliness,"  that  survived  the  over- 
throw in  Eden,  and  the  best  society  of  earth,  satis- 
fies not  the  instinctive  cravings  of  our  nature,  for 
the  joys  of  a  perfect  fellowship  with  kindred  minds. 
The  regenerated  soul,  especially  in  its  exalted  sen- 
sibilities, and  refined  affections,  and  sympathies,  de- 
sires "  a  better  country"  as  to  its  society.  But  how 
shall  we  describe  the  society  of  that  heavenly  coun- 
try ?  No  community  of  persons  on  earth,  however 
refined,  virtuous,  and  elite,  furnishes  a  model  or 
even  a  remote  analogy  to  assist  our  conceptions 
on  this  subject.  Imperfections  and  sin  attach  to  the 
happiest  combination  of  associated  minds  in  our 
world.  Discrepancy  of  opinion,  discordance  of  feel- 
ing, diversity  of  taste,  to  say  nothing  of  the  occa- 
sional play  of  the  passions  of  jealousy,  envy,  and 
ambition,  mingle  with  the  best  society  of  earth.  But 
no  trace  of  these  evils  will  ever  be  found  in  the 
blessed  society  of  the  better  country.  Think  for  a 
moment  how  vast  will  be  the  social  circle  of  heaven  ; 
what  untold  myriads  of  minds  it  will  embrace.  As 
to  intelligence,  every  one  of  those  minds,  filled  with 
all  the  fulness  of  God,  familiar  with  his  infinite  per- 
fections, as  learned  from  creation,  providence,  re- 
demption, and  from  direct  disclosures  in  heaven! 
Every  one  of  those  minds,  fired  with  a  supremely 
benevolent  desire  to  impart  knowledge  to  all  the 
younger  members  of  the  heavenly  household.  Every 
heart  of  this  countless  throng,  beating  in  a  perfect 
unison  of  exalted  moral  sentiments,  and  bound  by 
a  congeniality  of  taste  and  sympathies,  whose  mu- 


SERMON   XIII.  307 

tual  flow  will  never  be  ruffled  or  obstructed.  Not 
an  unfriendly  secret  thought  ever  entertained  for  a 
moment,  by  one  of  this  great  celestial  fraternity  ! 
In  their  prolonged  and  blissful  intercourse,  not  one 
unkind  word  ever  uttered,  no  jealousy  or  suspicion, 
no  rivalry  or  heated  emulation,  no  envy  or  strife, 
no  alienation  nor  enmity  to  weaken  "the  unity  of 
the  Spirit"  or  sever  "  the  bonds  of  peace,"  which 
bind  them  together  in  their  high  and  holy  fellow- 
ship. Nothing  from  without  nor  from  within  inter- 
rupts, for  a  moment,  the  sweet  interchange  of  thought 
between  mind  and  mind,  nothing  diverts  the  full 
tide  of  benevolent  affection  from  its  steady  flow 
from  heart  to  heart,  nothing  threatens  violence  to 
the  delicate  tie  connecting  congenial  souls,  or  creates 
a  momentary  apprehension  that  the  social  joys  of 
any  one  can  ever  suffer  diminution.  Love  reigns 
perfect  and  triumphant  there.  Think  again  oi  the 
glorious  orders  of  mind  which  form  the  society  of 
that  better  country.  Angels,  and  cherubim,  and 
seraphim,  thrones  and  dominions,  principalities  and 
powers,  and  'Uhe  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect," all  harmonized  in  one  blissful  family,  all  in 
sweet  and  absolute  subjection  to  the  great  law  of 
love,  all  perfected  in  the  exercise  of  the  highest  and 
holiest  affections  of  their  nature,  lovely  and  loving 
one  another,  intent  on  imparting  happiness  to  each 
other  to  the  utmost  of  their  capacities  without  in- 
termission and  for  ever!  When  we  reflect  on  liie 
exalted  faculties  they  possess,  their  lofty  and  enno- 
bling tlicmcs  of  thought,  their  susceptibility  of  ten- 
der and  profound  emotion,  the  intimate  union  in 
which    they  exist,  and   the   perfect   proportion    and 


308  SERMON  XIII. 

harmony  established  between  their  intellectual  per- 
ceptions of  the  loveliness  of  moral  qualities  and 
their  heart's  zest,  and  appreciation  of  it,  the  social 
joys  of  that  better  country  seem  greater  than  all 
the  bliss  we  ever  conceived  of  as  existing  in  heaven. 
But  the  crowning  glory  of  the  celestial  society  is, 
that  each  one,  in  addition  to  the  sweet  and  unre- 
stricted intercourse  which  he  has  with  all  others,  is 
permitted  to  have  free  and  full  communion  with 
God  the  Father,  and  close  and  endearing  fellowship 
with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  through  the  eternal  Spi- 
rit !  What  may  be  the  social  joys  of  a  finite  mind 
thus  imbosomed  in  the  presence,  love  and  smiles  of 
the  infinite  Jehovah,  it  would  be  presumption  to 
conjecture.  As  we  dwell  on  the  overmatching 
theme,  we  cannot  but  exclaim,  "  0  !  Lord,  this  suf- 
ficeth  for  the  best  society — the  most  ardent  and  ca- 
pacious social  longings  of  the  mightiest  creature 
Thou  hast  made,  can  ask  no  more !" 

IV.  Another  feature  in  the  heavenly  country  that 
makes  it  better  than  earth,  is,  that  it  has  infinitely 
better  employments.  The  service  which  the  Chris- 
tian renders  to  his  God  here,  is  an  imperfect  and 
often  intermitted  service.  In  this  world  the  em- 
ployment and  pursuits  of  the  regenerated  mind, 
whilst  they  aim  at  the  best  ends  hy  the  use  of  the 
best  means,  are,  nevertheless,  subject  to  be  inter- 
rupted, and  rendered  sadly  unsuccessful  by  sin. 
This  is  the  land  of  conflict,  not  of  triumph.  Much 
of  the  Christian's  present  employment  consists  in 
his  great  and  agonizing  struggle,  not  only  with  the 
remaining  sins  of  his  own  heart,  but  with  "princi- 
palities and  powers,  the  ru^lers  of  the  darkness  of 


SERMON  xiir.  309 

ibis  world,  with  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places." 
His  chief  pursuit  is  that  of  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ,  enduring  the  hardness  of  the  camp,  and  ply- 
ing the  whole  armour  of  God  against  his  numerous 
and  subtle  foes,  in  the  good  fight  of  faith.  Instead 
of  exultation  and  praise,  therefore,  he  is  often  em- 
ployed in  deep  penitence  and  importunate  prayer. 
And  even  in  his  benevolent  efforts  to  do  good  to 
others,  he  experiences,  both  from  without  and  from 
within,  a  resistance  which  greatly  deducts  from  his 
success.  But  the  country  he  desires  is  "a  better 
country,"  because  it  has  incomparably  better  em- 
ployments. There  the  very  first  play  of  the  immor- 
tal powers  will  be  in  the  transports  of  a  perfect  and 
final  victory  over  sin,  death,  and  hell.  All  foes 
without,  and  foes  within,  will  then  have  been  eter- 
nally vanquished.  Conflict  will  be  exchanged  for 
triumph,  penitence  and  importunate  prayer  for  the 
joys  of  a  ratified  and  everlasting  pardon,  and  for  the 
work  of  praise,  perpetual  love  and  gratitude,  faith 
for  unclouded  absolute  vision,  hope  for  actual  pos- 
session and  enjoyment.  Hear  the  rapt  Apostle  de- 
scribe the  employments  of  that  better  ^country — 
'^And  they  rest  not  day  and  night,  saying  Holy, 
holy,  holy  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was,  and  is, 
and  is  to  come."  "And  I  heard  a  voice  from  hea- 
ven, as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice 
of  a  great  thunder,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  harpers, 
harping  with  their  harps,  and  they  sung,  as  it  were, 
a  new  song,  before  the  throne.  These  were  the  re- 
deemed from  among  men,  being  the  first-fruits  unto 
God,  and  to  the  Lamb.  And  they  sung  the  song 
of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and   the  song  of  the 


310  SERMON  XIII. 

Lamb,  saying,  Great  and  marvellous  are  Thy  works, 
Lord  God  Almighty,  just  and  true  are  Thy  ways, 
Thou  King  of  Saints.  After  this,  I  beheld,  and  lo! 
a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of 
all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues, 
stood  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb, clothed 
with  white  robes  and  palms  in  their  hands,  and  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our  God 
which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb." 
What  an  employment  for  redeemed  immortal  spi- 
rits! Praise,  eternal  praise,  to  Jehovah,  the  raptu- 
rous exercise  of  redeemed  souls  perfected  in  love, 
and  confirmed  in  holiness,  and  transferred  to  "those 
pure  and  peaceful  realms  of  rest,"  where  not  a 
temptation,  trial,  sin,  or  sorrow,  will  interfere  with 
the  easy  and  incessant  action  of  their  faculties  through 
immortality". 

And,  as  employing  the  ministry  of  intelligent  and 
sanctified  mind  for  the  benefit  of  rational  creatures, 
and  to  fulfil  the  purposes  of  divine  benevolence  in 
their  happiness,  is,  doubtless,  a  part  of  the  economy 
of  that  better  country ;  then,  on  what  errands  of 
love  to  other  beings  and  other  portions  of  the  uni- 
verse, may  the  redeemed  be  engaged!  What  ex- 
alted pursuits  may  thus  be  presented  to  them,  what 
noble  spheres  of  benevolent  activity  thus  assigned 
to  them  in  the  better  arrangements  of  the  heavenly 
constitution;  spheres  ever  ascending  and  circling 
tlie  wide  domains  of  God,  in  which  they  will  move 
with  the  celerity  of  thought  itself,  fulfilling  the 
good  pleasure  of  their  God,  and  scattering  blessings 
on  their  way,  on  a  scale  of  magnitudes  commensu- 
rate with  eternity!     0!  is  not  that  a  better  country 


SERMON  XIII.  311 

which  furnishes  the  deathless  energies  of  mind,  and 
tlie  growing  aficctions  of  immortal  hearts,  sucli  em- 
ployments ! 

V.  It  is  a  better  country  because  it  has  a  better 
government  than  any  on  earth.  The  governments 
of  this  world  are  the  defective  contrivances  of  falli- 
ble men,  and  the  best  of  them  partake  largely  of  the 
imperfections  of  their  authors.  None  of  them  seem 
to  attain  all  the  ends,  and  secure  all  the  interests 
that  might  be  attained  and  secured,  through  the  me- 
dium of  well  devised  human  governments.  So 
even  the  moral  government  of  God  over  this  world 
is  only  in  its  progress  to  perfection,  and  not  already 
perfected  here,  it  does  not  profess  to  administer 
perfect  retribution  in  the  present  scene.  Vice  often 
{prospers  and  triumphs,  while  virtue  falls  in  the 
streets,  and  is  trodden  down  in  deep  depression. 
The  great  law  of  God  is  violated  daily,  and  rebel- 
lion unfurls  and  waves  its  banners  on  all  the  high 
places  of  earth.  Insubordination,  misrule  and  anar- 
chy mark  a  large  majority  of  Jehovah's  subjects  in 
this  world.  Now,  that  is  a  better  country  which 
the  Christian  desires,  because  it  has  a  better  govern- 
ment. In  proof  of  this,  you  need  only  be  reminded 
that  there  the  moral  government  of  God  is  abso- 
lutely perfect.  Virtue  there  is  rewarded  to  the 
whole  extent  of  its  merit,  vice  is  punished  in  the 
exact  degree  of  its  demerit,  and  is  completely  ex- 
cluded, caged,  and  confined,  at  such  an  infinite  re- 
move, as  to  render  its  encroachments  on  that  go- 
vernment for  ever  impossible.  There  is  not  one 
rebel  amongst  all  the  myriads  of  subjects  in  that 
better  countr}^,  not  one  heart  that  cherishes   for  a 


312  SERMON  XIII. 

moment  a  solitary  disloyal  thought.  The  law  of 
God  there  is  obeyed  perfectly^  the  will  of  God 
there  is  done  absolutely ,  all  the  good  pleasure  of 
his  goodness  is  executed  with  an  infinite  prompti- 
tude and  cordiality .  The  control  of  his  govern- 
ment over  the  whole  extent  of  that  country  is  om- 
nipotent, not  a  good  thought  unrewarded,  no  right 
of  the  lowest  subject  even  for  a  moment  jeoparded, 
infinite  wisdom, benevolence,and  almightiness,hold- 
ing  the  reins,  and  warding  off  all  disturbances  from 
the  movements  of  his  administration,  as  he  carries 
it  forward  through  immortality,  dispensing  bound- 
less blessings  to  its  subjects!  Love,  loyalty,  obe- 
dience, cordial  and  absolute  subjection  to  God,  hal- 
lowed regard,  benevolent  respect  for  each  other's 
rights,  and  a  deep  and  eternal  interest  in  each  other's 
happiness,  are  the  unchanging  characteristics  of  the 
governed,  and  the  blessed  and  unfailing  fruits  of  the 
government  in  that  better  country.  What  wonder 
that  the  scriptures  speak  of  "  the  glorious  majesty 
of  His  kingdom."  To  form  any  adequate  concep- 
tion of  the  moral  government  of  Jehovah  as  it  exists, 
and  is  administered  in  heaven,  is  one  of  the  most 
sublime  exercises  of  the  human  intellect,  and  in- 
volves some  of  the  highest  forms  of  thought.  The 
myriads  of  rational  accountable  agents  which  it  con- 
trols, alike  in  the  nearest  and  most  remote  world  of 
space,  the  harmony,  holiness,  and  happiness,  which 
it  sustains  and  increases  in  an  endless  progression, 
and  the  manifestations  of  divine  glory  which  it  gives 
as  the  great  organ  or  instrumentality  by  which  he 
reigns,  and  effects  the  stupendous  purposes  of  his 
benevolence   throughout   the  universe,  invest  the 


SERMON  XIII.  313 

moral  government  of  God  with  an  ineffable  grandeur 
and  majesty !  What  wonder  that  the  Christian, 
surrounded  by  the  imperfections  and  mal-adminis- 
tralion  of  human  governments,  and  by  the  resistance 
and  rebellion  of  sinners  against  the  divine  govern- 
ment in  this  world,  should  desire  a  better  country, 
that  is,  a  heavenly,  where  God's  eternal  govern- 
ment, perfected  and  approved,  is  diffusing  the  infi- 
nitude of  its  blessings  to  his  wide  dominions! 

VI.  The  heavenly  is  a  better  country,  because  it 
has  better  prospects.  The  prospects  that  open  on 
worldly  men  in  reference  to  different  localities  on 
earth,  have  great  influence  on  their  estimate  of  a 
better  country.  Such  is  the  constitution  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  that  it  can  never  be  wholly  satisfied  with 
present  possessions  and  attainments.  It  seems  ne- 
cessary to  the  completeness  of  our  happiness,  as  ra- 
tional and  forecasting  creatures,  that  we  should  at 
all  periods  of  our  existence  have  some  real  or  ima- 
ginary good  in  prospect.  True,  the  Christian  in 
this  world  has  his  prospects,  brighter  far  than  those 
of  worldly  minds.  From  the  first  dawn  of  spiritual 
day,  of  saving  light  in  his  soul,  he  has  the  general 
and  comprehensive  prospect  of  being  translated  to 
that  better  country,  with  all  its  benign  and  blessed 
arrangements.  But  this  prospect  varies  with  the 
varying  strength  of  his  faith,  and  the  unsteady 
shinings  of  his  hope.  In  this  world  it  is  not  a  per- 
manently bright  and  settled  prospect.  Indeed,  it  is 
not  improbable  that  one  of  the  greatest  changes  that 
will  occur  in  the  soul  in  consequence  of  its  entrance 
into  the  better  country,  will  be  in  reference  to  its 
prospects.  Surrounded,  as  it  will  be  there,  with 
27 


314  SERMON  XIII. 

objects  of  such  material  glory — placed  in  such  a  lo- 
cality— associated  with  such  society,  God  and  the 
Lamb  being  a  part — triumphant  over  ail  the  perils 
and  the  woes  of  this  state,  and  having  engaged  in 
such  employments,  and  being  the  happy  subject  of 
such  a  government  as  characterize  the  economy  of 
heaven — 0  what  prospects  of  ineffable  and  transcend- 
ent glory  may  then  burst  on  his  enraptured  vision! 
No  fear  that  his  most  exalted  and  capacious  aspira- 
tions will  ever  be  checked  or  fail  of  being  realized. 
Knowledge,  the  knowledge  of  God,  in  its  most  au- 
gust displays  in  that  better  country,  opens  its  ex- 
haustless  stores,  and  spreads  out  before  him  its  rich 
treasures,  glittering  along  the  line  of  eternal  ages, 
and  luring  on  his  dilating  capacities  to  make  attain- 
ments that  far  surpass  what  angels  now  know.  Yea, 
he  has  the  prospect  of  "knowing  even  as  he  is 
known  " — of  having  a  kind  of  quick  and  ubiquitous 
intuition^  by  which  he  will  yet  see  through  all  the 
works  and  ways  of  God,  and  have  a  range  and  com- 
prehension of  thought  greater  than  we  ordinarily 
attribute  to  Omniscience  itself!  Nor  are  the  Chris- 
tian's prospects  less  bright  there  in  reference  to  at- 
tainments in  all  those  moral  qualities,  those  exalted 
virtues,  which,  when  extended  without  limit,  con- 
stitute the  infinite  perfections  of  Jehovah.  Holi- 
ness, transformation  into  the  likeness  of  the  Son  of 
God,  displays  to  him  its  mighty  degrees  on  the  scale 
of  immortality,  and  opens  a  prospect  of  attainments 
which,  during  the  revolutions  of  eternal  years,  may 
accumulate  upon  his  soul  an  aggregation  of  spiritual 
qualities,  that  will  bring  him  nearer  and  make  him 
more  like  to  God  than  the  loftiest  and  brightest  se- 


SERMON  XIII.  315 

raph  before  the  throne  is  at  present.  So  stupendous 
are  the  changes  of  this  kind  in  prospect,  that  were 
it  possible  for  the  redeemed  soul  when  it  shall  have 
realized  them,  to  revisit  our  earth,  that  soul  would 
be  devoutly  adored  by  prostrate  millions,  and  would 
pour  a  tide  of  glory  over  the  whole  globe,  incom- 
parably greater  than  blinded  sinners  ever  conceived 
of,  as  belonging  to  God  himself! 

And  what  must  be  the  prospects  of  happiness 
which  open  on  the  Christian  in  that  better  country? 
In  one  view  his  prospects  are  brighter  far  than  those 
of  angels.  His  intimate  and  mysterious  spiritual 
union  with  the  Lamb  on  the  throne,  and  the  joys 
resulting  from  this  and  from  his  personal  interest 
and  participation  in  all  the  glorious  and  eternal  is- 
sues of  the  scheme  of  redeeming  grace  and  dying 
love,  belong  not  to  angels.  This  opens  a  new  and 
bright  vista  through  immortality,  along  which  no 
angePs  eye  can  look  with  the  hopes  and  expectancy 
of  a  redeemed  human  spirit.  The  fulness  of  joy  and 
the  rivers  of  pleasure  at  God's  right  hand  proffer 
their  exhaustless  resources  alike  and  equally  to  the 
ever-expanding  capacities  of  saints  and  angels;  and 
the  prospect  of  drinking  from  these  through  an  end- 
less duration  is  indeed  a  prospect  of  bliss  sufficient, 
one  would  think,  to  overwhelm  imagination  itself, 
even  in  the  excursive  capability  and  immortal  ener- 
gies with  which  it  will  be  endowed  in  that  better 
country.  But  to  be  for  ever  on  the  throne  with 
Jesus — to  be  bathed  for  ever  in  the  beams  of  his 
blessed  face — to  be  modelled,  soul  and  body,  after 
the  exact  image  of  his  glorified  human  nature — to 
praise  for  ever  his  redeeming  grace  and  dying  love 


316  SERMON  XITI. 

■ — to  be  drawn  for  ever  nearer  to  his  holy  bosom  by 
the  tie  that  united  us  to  him  in  this  world,  and  to 
have  our  hearts  meet  his,  reciprocally  warm  with 
the  mutual  love  of  the  Redeemer  and  the  redeemed, 
oh,  this  is  the  prospect  that  belongs  only  to  the  ran- 
somed from  amongst  men,  and  that  gilds  the  Chris- 
tian's immortah'ty  wnth  "  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory!" 

Such  are  the  prospects  of  the  heavenly  country. 
Are  they  not  '^  better  ^^  prospects?  As  we  turn 
away  from  them  to  earth,  how  dim  and  diminutive 
does  every  thing  appear  that  it  has  to  offer  to  hu- 
man hope  and  aspiration!  We  instinctively  raise 
our  eyes  again,  and  strive  to  look  through  the  por- 
tals of  that  better  country  with  a  penetrating  gaze 
that  may  compass  and  linger  still  on  those  prospects 
of  transcendent  glory  that  brighten  and  extend  along 
the  dateless  ages  of  eternity!" 

Lastly. — It  is  a  better  country,  because  it  is  cha- 
racterized by  a  glorious  spiritualism^  or  an  assem- 
blage of  resplendent  spiritual  objects  or  qualities 
as  far  superior  to  all  manifestations  of  the  divine 
perfections  and  of  human  virtues  in  this  world  as 
heaven  is  to  earth.  This  is  infinitely  the  brightest 
and  best  feature  in  the  constitution  of  the  celestial 
world.  The  utter  impotency  of  the  human  mind 
adequately  to  conceive  of  or  describe  this  feature 
must  stand  confessed.  On  this  point  the  scriptures 
themselves  attempt  no  detailed  description.  The 
beloved  disciple,  for  whom  the  veil  that  conceals 
that  better  country  w^as  once  momentarily  raised, 
had  a  glimpse  of  this  spiritualism;  but  in  reference 
to  it  he  gives  us  only  an  indirect  suggestion,  in  that 


SERMON  XIII.  317 

pregnant  and  remarkable  declaration — "  And  I  saw 
7X0  temple  therein;  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
AND  THE  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.  And  the  city- 
had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon  to  shine 
in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it,  and  the 
Lamb  is  the  light  thereof  P^  What  must  be  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  spiritual  objects  or  quali- 
ties there  to  justif}^  this  language  and  these  allusions, 
which  indicate  that  the  manifestations  of  Jehovali's 
perfections  are  such,  the  visible  displays  of  his  glory, 
as  perceived  and  reflected  from  other  holy  minds, 
so  great,  that  they  form  a  temple  of  sufficient  ampli- 
tude and  magnificence  to  correspond  with  all  the 
other  august  arrangements  of  the  place,  and  to  be 
adapted  to  the  number  and  the  exalted  natures  of 
the  celestial  worshippers;  and  still  more,  that  these 
revelations  of  his  own  infinite  attributes  are  so  stu- 
pendous as  to  form  one  vast  firmament,  sufficient, 
in  its  dense  and  glowing  splendours,  to  light  the 
whole  extent  of  that  better  country,  and  to  invest 
every  object  with  an  intense  and  dazzling  radiancy! 
Oh,  how  do  the  refined  materialism,  the  sublime 
locality,  the  select  society,  the  ennobling  employ- 
ments, and  the  bright  prospects  of  heaven  dwindle 
in  the  comparison  with,  or  rather  borrow  all  their 
lustre  from,  this  effulgence  of  the  Godhead,  which 
takes  precedence  of  all  temples  made  with  hands, 
and  of  all  created  suns  and  stars — and  will  more  than 
supply  the  place  of  spacious  walls,  and  lofty  dome, 
and  gorgeous  garniture — and  will  pour  its  eternal 
tide  of  brightness  on  the  immortal  throng  of  wor- 
shippers before  the  throne! 

My  dear  Christian    friends,  such   is   the   better 
27^ 


318  SERMON  XIII. 

country  which  you  profess  to  desire — such  the 
home  and  the  prospects  that  await  you  in  the  hea- 
venly world.  Are  you  living  as  the  expectants  of 
so  glorious  an  inheritance?  Oh,  it  would  seem  that 
this  better  country  had  a  power  of  allurement  which 
might  be  felt  by  every  intelligence,  except  the 
fiends  of  perdition  and  the  souls  of  earth,  that  are 
<■' dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins!''  Christians,  open 
your  eyes  to  the  brightness,  and  your  hearts  to  the 
warmth  of  that  heaven,  to  wake  and  lure  you  thither. 
Confess  yourselves  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  earth, 
and  live,  like  them,  with  the  end  of  your  pilgrim- 
age steadily  in  your  eye,  and  the  better  country  fully 
in  your  heart. 

"  Seeing  ye  look  for  such  things,  what  manner  of 
persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and 
godliness?''  Will  not  the  beams  of  that  bright  and 
blessed  world  win  you  away  from  the  darkness  of 
backsliding  and  distance  from  God?  Would  that 
all  God's  people  had  their  hearts  and  their  hopes 
full  of  heaven;  then  would  their  listlessness  be 
broken  up,  the  fetters  of  their  captivity  stricken 
off,  and  their  souls  winged  to  follow  holiness,  and 
to  soar  and  shine  till  they  actually  became  as  suns 
and  stars  in  the  firmament  of  God  for  ever. 

Such  too.  Christian,  is  the  better  country — even 
a  heavenly — to  which  your  efforts  for  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners  may  raise  them.  Oh !  do  your  efforts 
correspond  to  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  the 
destinies  that  may  be  affected  by  them?  The  hea- 
ven now  described  is  the  home  to  which,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  you  may  introduce  the  soul  of  your 
exiled  fellow  man.     Oh,  this  consideration  ought  to 


SERMON   XIII,  319 

send  you,  with  an  angel's  speed,  and  glowing  with 
an  angel's  zeal,  and  girded  with  an  angel's  strength, 
to  the  perishing  souls  of  sinners,  praying  them  to 
be  reconciled  to  God!  If  you  convert  one  soul 
from  the  error  of  its  way,  the  infinite  glories  of  that 
better  country  will  bless  that  soul,  and  be  your  re- 
ward for  ever. 

Finally. — My  dear,  impenitent  hearers,  the  bet- 
ter country  now  described  is  the  bright  lure  by 
which  God  would  win  you  to  the  obedience  of  the 
faith.  He  opens  the  portals  of  that  resplendent 
realm,  and  calls  you  to  repent  beneath  the  melting 
beams  that  shine  through  upon  your  present  dark- 
ness. He  calls  upon  you  to  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  beneath  the  visions  of  that  eternal 
throne  which  the  redeemed  shall  share  with  him  in 
heaven  !  He  girds  you  around  with  the  light  and  the 
warmth  of  that  genial  world — gives  you  a  glimpse  of 
its  prospects  of  ineffable  glory — hails  your  ear  with 
its  songs  and  shouts  of  immortal  victor}^,  its  an- 
thems and  transporting  hallelujahs — and  then  asks 
you  if,  blind  and  deaf  to  sights  and  sounds  like 
these,  you  will  still  madly  rebel,  and  plunge  your- 
selves into  the  blackness  of  darkness,  into  the  weep- 
ing and  wailing  of  perdition!  0!  impenitent  hear- 
ers, let  me  implore  you  to  answer  this  question  to 
your  God  by  the  full-souled  negation — "No,  blessed 
God! — melted  by  heaven's  warmth,  directed  by 
heaven's  light,  and  won  by  heaven's  love,  we  come 
— ive  come  in  penitence,  faith,  and  submission,  and 
cast  our  souls  on  Thee  for  full  redemption  and  an 
eternal  inheritance  in  the  better  country,  through 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb!" 


320  ADDRESS. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOICETY,  IN  THE 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  MAY,  1836. 


That  the  Bible  has  exerted  certain  influences  on 
man,  no  intelligent  infidel  will  deny. 

It  is  a  fact  equally  indisputable  that  these  influ- 
ences have  followed  the  possession  of  the  scriptures 
every  where,  with  a  uniformity  as  unbroken  as  that 
which  characterizes  the  connexion  between  physi- 
cal cause  and  effect.  And  this  fact,  in  itself,  is  no 
mean  incidental  proof  of  the  divinity  of  the  holy 
oracles.  It  separates  them  from  all  merely  human 
productions  by  an  immeasurable  chasm.  The  most 
gifted  master-spirits  of  the  world  have  left  but  few 
monuments  of  their  genius  that  have  exerted  any 
wide-spread  or  permanent  influence  on  our  race. 
The  declaration  of  the  Psalmist,  in  another  case,  is 
literally  true  of  their  mightiest  mental  efforts, — 
"  They  disquiet  themselves  in  vaiiiJ^  By  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  struggles  and  the  attainments  of 
the  distinguished  minds  of  all  classes  uninfluenced 
by  the  Bible  are  this  day  as  though  they  had  never 
been.  They  have  left  no  deep  and  enduring  im- 
pression on  human  nature.  Of  all  who  have  lived 
and  laboured,  and  died  and  passed  from  this  terres- 


ADDRESS.  321 

trial  scene,  liow  few  have  wrought  into  their  pro- 
ductions those  living,  eternal  truths,  or  those  forms 
of  universal,  and  unfading  beauty,  that  will  carry 
conviction  to  the  intellect,  and  a  divine  charm  to 
the  heart,  wherever  man  is  found,  till  the  close  of 
time!  Homer,  amongst  the  poets,  and  Aristotle, 
amongst  philosophers,  have  had  a  more  extended 
and  enduring  sway  over  their  species  than  any  un- 
inspired writers.  Yet,  how  many  hearts  have  been 
waked  to  deep  devotion  and  thrilled  with  holy  de- 
light by  David's  harp  that  would  remain  unmoved 
by  the  Grecian  bard.  How  many  minds  have  been 
captivated  by  the  logic  of  Paul,  and  felt  the  rapture 
of  the  noblest  convictions  of  reason,  on  whom  the 
metaphysical  acumen  and  mystic  refinement  of  an 
Aristotle  would  be  utterly  lost.  Since  the  Penta- 
teuch has  been  written,  the  scriptures  have  had  an 
unbroken  influence  on  some  portion  of  mankind. 
The  Jewish  nation,  during  the  lapse  of  twenty-five 
centuries,  embracing  certain  periods  of  the  grossest 
moral  darkness  and  profligacy  in  the  annals  of  the 
world,  exhibit  a  striking  proof  of  the  deep  and  per- 
manent control  of  divine  revelation.  Their  know*- 
ledge  of  the  true  God — their  rites  and  ceremonies — 
their  code  of  civil  and  criminal  laws — their  state 
polity  and  their  moral  virtues,  compared  with  those 
of  contemporary  nations,  furnish  ample  testimony 
to  the  power  of  those  "  lively  oracles"  committed 
to  their  keeping. 

Nor  may  we  omit  to  notice  here  that  compre- 
hensive adaptation  to  each  sex,  and  all  the  grada- 
tions of  age  and  station — that  sweeping  universality 
of  influence  on  man  which  excludes  not  one  of  the 


322  ADDRESS. 

species,  and  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
the  Bible.  The  beautiful  lan^uaofe  of  the  Psalmist 
in  reference  to  the  sun  is  equally  applicable  to  it, — 
"  His  going  forth  is  from  the  end  of  the  heaven,  and 
his  circuit  unto  the  ends  of  it;  and  there  is  nothing 
hid  from  the  heat  thereof."  The  poetry,  the  phi- 
losophy, the  civil  policy,  the  laws,  the  literature, 
the  manners,  and  the  morals  of  the  civilized  world 
have  felt  its  omnipresent  sway,  and  borrowed  from 
its  peerless  beauty,  its  wisdom,  and  its  sublimity. 

Now,  aside  from  its  direct  instrumentality  in  con- 
verting the  soul,  where  is  the  book  that  will  com- 
pare with  the  Bible  in  its  diffusive  and  permanent 
influence  on  man?  Yet  this  book,  more  than  any 
other,  has  had  to  encounter,  in  all  ages,  the  gigantic 
enmity  and  opposition  of  a  world  lying  in  wicked- 
ness. It  has  had  to  meet  and  overcome  all  the  re- 
sistance which  the  aggregate  depravity  of  earth  and 
hell  could  oppose  to  the  progress  of  its  influence. 
More  glorious  from  the  struggle,  and  triumphant  in 
every  conflict,  it  has  been  and  is  now  influencing 
the  dearest  hopes  and  loftie^  aspirings  of  millions 
blest  by  its  light. 

It  has  diff'used  itself,  by  translations,  into  one 
hundred  and  fifty  different  languages  and  dialects, 
spoken  by  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  entire 
family  of  man.  Indeed,  He  who  is  said  to  "  have 
created  every  thing  double,  a  world  without  and  a 
world  within,'^  has  given  his  word  such  an  adapta- 
tion to  the  moral  constitution  of  man,  as  clearly  to 
indicate  the  ultimate  and  universal  sway  which  re- 
velation is  destined  to  hold  over  human  nature. 
The  most  striking  feature  in  this  adaptation,  and  one 


ADDRESS.  323 

prophetic  of  tlie  all-compreliensive  and  permanent 
power  of  the  Bible  over  our  race,  is  its  capability  of 
deeply  influencing  the  young.  *'  Wherewithal  shall 
a  young  tnan  cleanse  his  way? — hy  taking  heed 
thereto  according  to  Thy  word.^^ 

When  we  contemplate  the  powers  and  suscepti- 
bilities of  the  young  man's  mind,  perverted  as  they 
are,  by  the  apostacy,  and  connect  in  our  view  that 
derangement  in  the  world  without,  produced  by  the 
same  cause,  we  find  him,  from  both  these  sources, 
warred  upon  by  influences  adapted  to  work  out  his 
degradation  and  ruin.  On  his  moral  life  there  is  a 
constant  action  of  unfriendly  influences,  not  unlike 
the  play  of  those  disastrous  physical  elements  on 
natural  life,  which  renders  all  animal  existence  one 
prolonged  conflict.  Every  young  man,  in  his  alie- 
nation from  God,  carries  about  with  him  the  seeds 
of  self-degradation  and  ruin.  This,  however  humi- 
liating, is  no  libel  on  fallen  human  nature.  The 
young  man  enters  on  his  way  with  numerous  and 
powerful  passions,  uncontrolled  even  by  the  slender 
checks  which  a  more  extended  experience  and  ob- 
servation might  furnish.  The  course  of  this  pre- 
sent world,  marred  as  it  is  by  sin,  affords  ample 
means  of  indulgence,  and  a  multitude  of  occasions 
to  stimulate  youthful  passion.  Now,  moral  philo- 
sophy has  established  no  truth  more  clearly  than 
this,  that  God  has  assigned  certain  limits  to  all  the 
gratifications  of  our  sensitive  nature,  beyond  which 
man  cannot  go,  without  incurring  degradation  and 
misery.  All  that  the  young  man,  then,  has  to  do 
in  order  to  ensure  sorrow  and  ruin,  is  simply  to  dis- 
regard and   over-step  those   boundaries  which   the 


324  ADDRESS. 

Creator  has  affixed  to  the  indulgence  of  his  passions. 
It  is  a  fearful  fact  in  our  blended  physical  and 
moral  constitution,  that  the  most  innocent  propen- 
sity of  human  nature  may  effectually  destroy  cha- 
racter and  happiness,  merely  by  unlimited  gratifi- 
cation. It  is  a  spectacle  of  solemn  and  sorrowful 
interest,  to  behold  a  young  man  commencing  the 
career  of  life  with  that  wonderful  mechanism  of  de- 
sire and  passion,  which  constitutes  the  sensitive  part 
of  his  nature,  deprived  of  its  great  balance  by  the 
fall,  and  acting  with  their  regularity  and  direful  in- 
tensity consequent  on  such  a  deprivation!  The  ar- 
dour of  youth  is  proverbial.  The  war  which  his 
own  passions  wage  on  his  character  and  happiness, 
if  he  be  left  unaided  in  the  conflict,  will  be  a  war  of 
victory  and  extermination.  The  sad  spoils  of  its 
triumph  are  strown  on  the  pathway  of  man}^  an  in- 
considerate youth.  Amongst  the  young  men  of 
this  day,  the  wrecks  of  reputation,  hope,  usefulness, 
happiness,  and  life,  effected  by  the  lion-like  power 
of  their  own  indomitable  passions,  are  truly  melan- 
choly and  appalling!  We  may  exclaim  in  the  lan- 
guage of  inspiration,  in  another  case — "Come,  see 
what  desolations"  are  thus  "  wrought "  amongst  our 
beloved  youth.  '  "Behold  how  great  a  matter  a  little 
fire"  of  unhallowed,  unrestrained  passion,  "kin- 
dleth!"  Now,  "  v^^herewithal  shall  a  young  man," 
in  this  respect,  "  cleanse  his  way?"  Where  shall 
we  find  a  balance  that  will  equalize  the  movements 
of  this  dangerous  machinery  of  fallen  human  nature? 
How  shall  we  save  the  young  man  from  becoming 
the  victim  of  his  own  unbridled  propensities?  Where 
shall  we  find  an  influence  that  will  furnish  an  ade- 


ADDRESS.  325 

quale  counteraction  to  the  violent  impulse  of  youth- 
ful passions?  In  the  Bible  alone.  This  holy  Book 
meets  the  young  man  in  his  way,  and  with  a  com- 
manding and  a  divine  authority,  defines  and  speci- 
fies the  limits  which  the  Creator  has  assigned  to  the 
gratification  of  all  his  passions  and  appetites,  and  on 
those  limits  places  the  "flaming  sword  "  of  God's 
prohibition,  to  deter  him  from  transgressing.  It 
exhorts  "young  men  to  be  sober-minded,"  to  rule 
their  own  spirits,  to  "  let  their  moderation  be  known 
unto  all  men."  Nor  are  these  as  the  cold  advisory 
precepts  of  human  philosophy.  The  Bible,  more 
than  all  books  of  philosophy  or  morals,  reveals  those 
tremendous  sanctions  adapted  to  over-awe  the  way- 
wardness and  impetuosity  of  youthful  passions. 
With  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  that  love  of  happi- 
ness, and  aversion  to  pain,  which  are  so  quick  and 
powerful  in  their  impulses  on  the  young  heart,  the 
Bible  displays  to  him  the  contrasted  consequences 
of  obedience  and  rebellion.  It  puts  in  one  scale 
the  momentary  gratifications  of  sin,  and  in  the  other 
those  prolonged  pains  and  penalties  that  come  upon 
the  sinner  by  way  of  natural  retribution  in  the  pre- 
sent life,  and  shows  him  that  the  former,  weighed 
against  the  latter,  are  but  "as  the  dust  of  the  ba- 
lance." It  discloses  the  certain  and  inseparable 
connexion  between  moral  cause  and  effect,  and  af- 
firms that,  "  though  hand  join  in  hand,  iniquity  shall 
not  go  unpunished."  It  does  more.  The  Bible 
alone  makes  those  definite  and  appalling  disclosures 
of  the  consequences  of  sin  on  man's  /ullage  and 
endless  life,  which  exert  the  greatest  restraining 
force  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  a  free  moral 
28 


326  ADDRESS. 

agent.  The  strongest  lure  to  the  hopes,  and  the 
most  tremendous  appeal  to  the  fears  of  human  na- 
ture, are  found  in  the  awards  of  the  judgment-seat, 
and  in  the  vivid  reality  with  which  the  Bible  in- 
vests heaven  and  hell,  as  the  ultimate  destination  of 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  How  admirably 
adapted  is  such  a  book  to  extend  a  controlling  influ- 
ence over  the  young  man,  to  curb,  by  its  stupen- 
dous sanctions,  "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep" 
of  depravity  within  himself,  and  to  impel  him  to 
the  most  strenuous  eflforts  of  self-denial  and  self-go- 
vernment. Like  its  Divine  author,  the  Bible  only 
has  an  omnipotence  that  can  ride  upon  the  whirl- 
wind, and  direct  the  storm  of  youthful  passion. 
But,  assuming  that  the  young  man  is  saved  from  the 
destructive  sway  of  baleful  passions  within,  still  all 
the  exigencies  of  his  condition  are  not  met,  while 
there  is  no  adequate  and  effective  force  to  oppose  to 
the  multiform  appliances  of  temptation  from  with- 
out. The  contagion  of  bad  example,  or  the  infiu- 
ence  of  evil  companionship,  may  effect  his  degra- 
dation and  ruin.  It  is  amongst  the  mysteries  of 
our  present  being,  that  the  mortal  and  immortal 
destinies  of  man  should  be  subject  to  so  decisive  an 
influence  from  his  fellow-man.  No  fact  is  more  ob- 
viously taught,  or  amply  attested  in  the  social  his- 
tory of  the  world,  than  that  "  he  that  walketh  with 
wise  men  shall  be  wise,  but  a  companion  of  fools 
shall  be  destroyed."  Now,  on  no  class  is  the 
power  of  fellowship  so  great  as  on  the  young,  and 
on  young  men  especially.  It  is  in  youth  that  the 
principle  of  imitation,  and  the  desire  of  social  inter- 
course, act  with  greatest  intensity.     If  the  circle  of 


ADDRESS.  327 

companionsliip  be  known  on  wliich  a  young  man 
enters  wl^cn  lie  first  quits  tlic  paternal  roof,  it  re- 
quires no  prophetic  spirit  to  predict  his  future  cha- 
racter and  career.  Conformity  to  his  associates,  is 
the  taw  of  his  nature.  To  any  young  man,  un- 
guarded by  the  power  of  God's  truth,  the  tempta- 
tions of  a  round  of  vicious  company  will  be  utterly 
over-matching.  He  has  no  principle  inherent  in 
his  fallen  nature  that  can  oppose  to  them  an  effec- 
tive resistance.  The  influence  of  wicked  confede- 
rates on  the  youthful  mind  is  supreme  and  control- 
ling. If  not  counteracted,  that  influence  will  ulti- 
mately seduce,  corrupt,  and  destroy,  any  young 
man  who  is  kept  within  its  potent  and  deadly  sweep. 
The  close  observation  and  painful  solicitude  of 
parents  and  teachers  over  the  young  give  them  an 
appalling  view  of  the  power  of  "one  sinner  to  de- 
stroy much  good."  And  although  the  man  who 
will  deliberately  seduce  his  fellow  man  be,  in  some 
respects,  ivorse  than  the  devil — for  Satan  has  not  a 
community  of  nature  and  of  sympathies  with  men — 
yet  there  are  never  wanting,  in  any  society,  some 
foul,  malignant  spirits,  who  prosecute  this  work  of 
their  gloomy  father  with  a  zeal  and  industr}^,  a  ma- 
levolent exultation  at  success,  and  a  growing  ambi- 
tion for  further  triumphs  worthy  the  great  destroyer 
himself,  in  the  enmity  and  energies  of  his  superhu- 
man nature.  Few  young  men  are  born  to  so  select 
a  circle  of  companionship  as  not  to  meet  in  their 
way  the  arts  and  the  wiles  of  these  incarnate  fiends. 
"Wherewithal,"  then,  "shall  a  young  man  cleanse 
his  way?  by  taking  heed  thereto  according  to  Thy 
word."    It  is  the  Bible  whicii  discloses,  in  all  their 


328  ADDRESS. 

magnitude,  the  consequences  of  wicked  companion- 
ship, and  the  decisive  influence  it  exerts  on  the  high- 
est destinies  of  men  for  two  worlds.  Indeed,  this 
topic  extends  through  almost  all  the  historical  por- 
tions of  the  sacred  volume,  and  is  found  in  many  of 
its  direct  precepts  and  teachings.  In  the  companion- 
ships of  Eli's  sons — in  the  history  of  the  associates 
of  some  of  the  younger  kings  of  Israel — in  the  con- 
federacies which  Solomon  formed  in  early  life,  as 
well  as  in  the  alliances  of  the  younger  part  of  the 
Jewish  nation  with  the  neighbouring  heathen  youth, 
the  Bible  utters  a  voice  of  warning  to  the  young 
man,  as  to  the  choice  of  his  companions,  solemn  and 
awful  as  if  spoken  in  the  "seven  thunders''  from 
beneath  the  eternal  throne!  It  meets  him  on  his 
entrance  into  society  with  an  appeal  adapted  to  win 
upon  the  generous  feelings  of  the  young  heart,  by 
assuring  him,  ^'Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not 
astray  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor  sitteth  in 
the  seat  of  the  scornful."  It  teaches  him  with  all 
earnestness  to  pray,  "  Gather  not  my  soul  with  sin- 
ners, nor  my  life  with  bloody  men;  in  whose  hands 
is  mischief,  and  their  right  hand  is  full  of  bribes." 
It  expostulates  with  him,  "Be  not  deceived;  evil 
communications  corrupt  good  manners."  And  it 
finally  declares,  with  the  emphasis  of  doom,  "  The 
companion  of  fools  shall  be  destroyed!"  The 
Bible,  then,  is  pre-eminently  adapted  to  throw  over 
the  young  man  a  mightier  shield  than  the  fabled  one 
that  fell  down  from  Jupiter;  and  to  furnish  him,  by 
its  encouragements  and  its  warnings,  an  adequate 
protection  from  the  most  insidious  and  seductive  of 
all  baleful  influences  from  without,  tending  to  his 


ADDRESS.  329 

ilcstriiction.  And  such  is  actually  its  salutary  power 
on  many  a  young  mind  that  is  not  savingly  enlight- 
ened by  its  holy  truths.  A  striking  individual  ex- 
ample of  this  occurs  to  me  amongst  the  recollections 
of  my  academic  life.  A  youth,  from  the  bosom  of 
a  pious  family,  entered  college  with  me.  He  was 
of  prepossessing  personal  appearance,  of  great  polish 
and  urbanity  in  his  manners,  strictly  moral,  and  pos- 
sessing a  singularly  gifted  mind.  His  respect  for 
the  word  of  God,  and  his  dally  pei^usal  of  it,  was  a 
subject  of  grateful  remark  by  the  pious,  and  of  en- 
venomed ridicule  by  the  wricked  of  his  fellow  stu- 
dents. Just  as  long  as  he  held  daily  converse  with 
his  Bible  he  effectually  resisted  "the  enticements 
of  sinners;"  he  was  unmoved  by  the  flattery  or  the 
frowns,  the  threats  or  the  persuasions  of  wicked 
companions,  and  retained  the  integrity  of  his  mo- 
rals and  his  high  grade  of  scholarship.  But,  in  an 
evil  hour  he  forsook  the  divine  oracles,  and  then 
his  progress  in  vice  began;  he  fell  an  easy  prey  to 
the  artful  allurements  of  more  hardened  transgres- 
sors, dashed  headlong  into  the  wildest  excess,  and 
ended  his  collegiate  course  in  infamy,  and  in  an  un- 
successful attempt  at  suicide!  Would  he  ever  have 
reached  so  ignominious  a  goal  had  he  held  up  the 
word  of  God  as  "  a  light  to  his  feet  and  a  lamp  to 
his  path"  in  the  perilous  race  of  life? 

But  mere  protection — a  successful  counteracting 
of  the  causes  that  combine  to  degrade  and  ruin  the 
young  man — by  no  means  meets  all  the  wants  of 
his  nature.  If  his  intellectual  and  moral  endow- 
ments are  worthy  the  shield  and  the  buckler  of 
God's  truth  for  their  defence,  then  their  right  di- 
28* 


330  ADDRESS. 

rection  must  be  an  object  of  unspeakable  moment. 
That  influence  which  connects  the  busy  energies  of 
the  young  mind  with  the  highest  pursuits,  and 
guides  them  successfully  to  the  noblest  achieve- 
ments within  the  limits  of  human  agency,  is,  in 
some  respects,  even  more  important  than  that  which 
merely  protects  them  from  injury.  Within  every 
youthful  mind  there  is  an  elastic  coil  of  spiritual 
force,  which,  if  connected  with  a  suitable  mecha- 
nism in  the  moral  world,  may  effect  stupendous  re- 
sults for  good.  Youth  is  notoriously  the  time  for 
action  and  arduous  enterprise.  It  is  the  season  when 
those  mysterious  energies  that  distinguish  mind  from 
matter,  and  that  characterize  the  undying  and  eter- 
nal element  of  human  nature,  stir  themselves  up, 
and  seek  to  grapple  with  objects  of  a  magnitude  and 
grandeur  suited  to  their  inherent  force. 

Every  young  man  not  degraded  by  gross  sensu- 
ality and  vice  feels,  at  intervals,  a  restless  and  un- 
controllable desire  after  some  sphere  of  noble  daring 
and  lofty  achievement.  He  is  aware  that  there  is 
a  great  disproportion  between  his  newly  matured 
and  vigorous  capabilities,  and  all  the  ordinary  em- 
ployments and  pursuits  of  life.  He  is  occasionally 
conscious  of  irrepressible  aspirations  after  a  wider 
sphere  and  more  exalted  enterprises.  The  young 
mind,  somewhat  like  the  young  animal  frame,  seems 
to  demand  and  to  delight  in  those  athletic  exercises 
which  tax  its  strength  to  the  utmost.  This  is  pro- 
bably a  fragment  of  man's  original  exalted  ambition 
in  innocence,  still  discoverable  amidst  the  wreck 
and  the  tragic  overthrow  of  his  nature.  The  Bible 
itself  clearly  recognises  this  peculiarity  in  the  con- 


ADDRESS.  331 

stitution  of  the  young  man,  by  the  declaration,  "  I 
write  unio  1/ on ng  men,  because  ye  are  strong." 
Indeed,  it  would  seem  as  though  the  young  mind 
might  have  a  most  powerful  presentiment  of  its  own 
immortality  from  the  very  struggles  and  puttings 
forth  of  its  present  strength.  This  unwasted  and 
awful  might  in  the  young  spirit  betokens  alike  its 
deathless  nature  and  the  high  destiny  to  which  it 
may  rise  in  a  future  scene  of  being.  Now,  chroni- 
cles of  wars,  of  conquests,  of  military  glory,  and  of 
universal  dominion,  have  been  the  books  which 
have  too  often  and  too  long  usurped  the  direction 
of  that  aggregate  of  gigantic  energies  in  the  young 
man,  that  pants  and  burns  for  a  wider  and  freer  arena 
of  action  than  is  furnished  by  the  limited  pursuits 
of  every-day  life.  It  was  the  perusal  of  such  books, 
and  the  intense  contemplation  of  such  scenes  and 
characters  as  they  describe,  that  first  fired  the  un- 
conquerable ambition  of  young  Napoleon,  and  of 
the  youthful  Alexander,  and  misguided  their  terrific 
powers  to  the  destruction  of  half  the  world.  If 
these  two  most  illustrious  murderers  of  their  spe- 
cies in  their  youth  had  taken  heed  to  their  vvay,  ac- 
cording to  the  word  of  God,  how  different  might 
have  been  their  careers  and  their  destinies,  and  how 
different  the  results  of  their  lives  and  actions  on  the 
great  interests  of  human  nature!  The  Bible  is  the 
only  book  that  can  give  a  safe  direction  to  the 
strength  and  executive  capabilities  of  the  young 
mind.  And,  as  though  it  had  been  written  with 
specific  reference  to  this  fact,  it  presents  all  those 
objects  of  pursuit,  and  that  enlarged  and  attractive 
sphere  of  action^  so  peculiarly  adapted  to  tlie  ardent 


332  ADDRESS. 

desires  and  lofty  emulation  of  young  men.  It  re- 
veals achievements  sufficiently  vast  and  sublime  to 
tax  the  utmost  capacity  of  deep  emotion,  and  to  give 
ample  scope  for  the  play  of  all  the  untiring  and  im- 
mortal activities  of  the  young  man.  The  Bible 
meets  him  in  the  commencement  of  his  way,  and 
presents  the  woy^ld  as  the  wide  theatre  on  which 
his  capabilities  of  action  may  be  displayed.  Yes, 
the  WHOLE  WORLD — not  in  the  attractions  of  wealth, 
and  fame,  and  power,  and  temporal  dominion.  The 
acquisition  of  all  these  would  be  a  poor  achieve- 
ment for  those  wondrous  spiritual  forces  in  the 
young  mind  which  make  it  but  a  "little  lower  than 
the  angels."  No;  the  Bible  presents  the  whole 
world  to  him,  in  the  most  serious  relations  and  au- 
gust interests  in  which  it  can  be  contemplated  by 
intelligent  beings.  It  is  shown  to  him  as  a  world 
in  revolt  from  its  God,  yet  reclaimable,  and  to  he 
reclaimed  by  the  instrumentality  of  mind  in  the 
use  of  those  means  which  its  Maker  has  appointed. 
What  objects  of  magnitude  and  grandeur  are  here 
presented  to  enlist  the  energies  and  noble  daring  of 
the  young  man!  To  do  battle  with  all  the  igno- 
rance of  God  and  of  duty,  with  all  the  errors  and 
prejudices,  the  superstitions,  idolatry,  skepticism, 
and  fortified  enmity  of  a  world  lying  in  wickedness, 
gives  scope  for  a  higher  courage,  and  a  more  inflex- 
ible purpose  of  mind,  and  bespeaks  a  more  sublime 
conflict,  than  the  greatest  of  earth's  warriors  ever 
knew.  To  have  an  agency  in  combating  and  con- 
quering those  tremendous  forces  of  moral  evil  that 
have  been  at  work  for  nearly  six  thousand  years, 
creating  and  perpetuating  the  giant  vices  that  have 


ADDRESS.  333 

cursed  ilie  world,  is  a  greater  and  more  enduring 
glory  than  was  ever  won  by  a  military  chieftain  in 
the  most  splendid  victory  that  history  records.     To 
pull  down  those  '•^strong  holds^'  that  have  been 
reared    from   the    granite  of  total    depravity,  and 
cemented  by  the  mortar  of  '^  the  pit,"  and  to  do  it. 
by  the  weapons  of  that  warfare  in  which  the  Bible 
would  enlist  the  young  man,  is  the  noblest  achieve- 
ment of  which  human  nature,  in  its  present  sphere, 
is  capable.     To  band  together  with  all  the  good  and 
the  great  who  have  identified  their  influence  and 
very  existence  with  that  instrumentality  by  which 
the  infinite  God  is  ^^ putting  to  flight  the  armies  of 
the  aliens,"  subduing  and  extirpating  the  monstrous 
growths  of  moral  evil,  reclaiming  this  revolted  pro- 
vince to  its  allegiance,  and  preparing  earth  for  a 
millennial  harvest  of  the  fruits  of  holiness,  is  the 
most  honourable  association,  and  the  highest  style 
of  combined  action  to  which  the  young  mind  can 
aspire.     To   connect  one's  sympathies  and  active 
beneficence  with  the  causes  which  God  has  put  in 
train  to  assuage  those  ponderous  and   aggravated 
woes  under  which   our  common   nature  has  been 
crushed  and  groaning  since  the  apostacy  in  Eden, 
and  to  wield  an  efiective  instrumentality  in  uphea- 
ving and  throwing  them  ofif  from  a  depressed  and 
suffering  race,  is  a  destination  in  well-doing  which 
a  ministering  angel  might  covet!     To  exert  an  in- 
fluence in  harmonizing  all  the  discordant  elements 
of  the  entire  society  of  earth,  in  binding  all  classes 
and  castes  of  men,  notwithstanding  their  former  re- 
pellencies,  in  the  permanent  bonds  of  brotherhood, 
in  obliterating  all  sinful  distinctions,  and   breaking 


334  ADDRESS. 

down  all  the  arbitrary  walls  of  partition  between 
them,  in  restoring  long  lost  peace,  and  blending 
heart  with  heart,  through  the  whole  circle  of  the 
race,  infinitel}^  transcends  the  greatest  achievements 
of  diplomacy  that  ever  characterized  the  cabinets  of 
nations.  To  exert  that  spiritual  might  which  will 
level  mountains,  fill  up  valleys,  and  prepare  a  broad 
high-way  for  Messiah's  triumphal  car,  as  he  rides 
forth  to  the  splendid  conquests  and  regal  glories  of 
his  millennial  reign,  is  a  more  august  manifestation 
of  human  power,  than  the  noblest  discoveries  of 
modern  science,  and  constitutes  an  activity  allied  to 
that  of  angels,  and  of  the  moral  omnipotence  of  God 
himself! 

Now,  these  are  the  objects  of  pursuit — these  the 
exalted  enterprises — this  the  lofty  sphere  of  exertion 
which  the  Bible  presents  to  enlist  and  tax  the  no- 
blest energies  of  the  young  man!  And  should  he 
never  become  truly  pious,  nor  enter  with  a  Chris- 
tian spirit  into  this  sublime  department  of  activity, 
yet  the  very  contemplation  of  such  stupendous  ob- 
jects of  pursuit,  and  of  so  magnificent  an  arena  of 
effort  as  being  within  the  reach  of  human  aspiration 
and  attainment,  will  exert  a  great  and  salutary  in- 
fluence on  the  young  man's  career  in  the  affairs  of 
life.  While  he  remains  familiar  with  these  disclo- 
sures of  his  Bible,  he  can  never  consent  to  grovel 
with  reptiles  on  a  mole-hill,  when  he  feels  that  he 
is  made  with  capacities  to  aspire  after  such  objects 
as  we  have  now  described,  and  to  soar  and  shine 
amongst  "the  morning  stars,"  and  to  shout  for  joy 
with  "  the  sons  of  God." 

Again.     Though  to  feel  a  restless  and  uncontrol- 


ADDRESS.  335 

lable  desire  for  effort  and  great  achievement,  be  an 
inwoven  part  of  the  constitution  of  an  ingenuous 
youth,  yet,  in  his  moments  of  reflection,  he  must  be 
conscious  that  he  has  no  great  inherent  ])rinciple 
of  action  proportioned  to  tlie  objects  of  pursuit, 
and  the  sphere  of  exertion  presented  to  him  by  the 
divine  oracles.  He  is  sensible  that  he  lacks  the 
great  motive  power  necessary  to  secure  perseve- 
rance and  success  in  his  career  of  glor}^,  and  honour, 
and  immortality.  His  observation  must  be  very 
limited,  if  he  have  not  noticed  that  it  is  for  want  of 
such  a  governing  and  impelling  principle,  that  the 
strength  of  the  majority  of  young  men  is  utterly 
wasted.  Their  course  is  too  often  influenced  by 
mere  fitful  impulses.  Passion  and  caprice,  in  their 
endless  mutabilities,  take  the  helm,  and  the  noble 
vessel,  with  all  its  sail  and  gallant  bearing,  makes 
no  steady  progress,  and  reaches  not  the  desired  ha- 
ven. In  fallen  human  nature,  there  is  no  fixed  and 
commanding  principle  of  action  sufficient  to  secure 
those  exalted  attainments  of  which  man,  considered 
as  an  intelligent  agent,  is  capable.  "Mortal  spirits 
tire  and  faint"  in  those  grand  moral  enterprises  to 
which  God  and  duty  urge  us.  Neither  the  buoy- 
ancy of  young  hope,  nor  the  force  of  natural  cou- 
rage, nor  the  fires  of  the  most  lofty  ambition,  will 
avail  to  carry  the  human  mind  along  through  life  in 
an  unintermitted  course  of  benevolent  activity.  We 
need  a  higher,  a  more  generous  and  permanent 
power  of  impulsion.  We  must  have  a  principle  of 
action  instinct  with  a  divine  energy,  by  which  we 
can  "mount  as  on  wings  of  eagles,  run  and  not  be 
wear}^,  walk  and  not  faint."     Now,  the  Bible  prof- 


336  ADDRESS. 

fers  to  the  young  man  just  such  a  principle.  It  pro- 
poses to  bring  him  under  the  sway  of  supreme  love 
to  God  and  to  man.  Nor  is  this  a  vague  mysteri- 
ous principle  of  action,  like  the  supposed  ethereal 
influence  which  animates  and  guides  the  heroes  and 
heroines  of  romance.  It  is  the  primeval  law  of 
man's  being,  under  the  force  of  which,  had  he  re- 
mained unfallen,  he  would  have  accomplished  all 
the  great  purposes,  and  attained  all  the  noble  desti- 
nies of  an  intelligent  and  immortal  existence.  One 
must  be  little  versed  in  the  philosophy  of  the  heart, 
who  does  not  see  the  adaptation  and  power  of  this 
principle  to  impel  and  control  all  the  faculties  of 
our  nature,  and  to  conduct  man  onward  in  that  ex- 
alted sphere  of  action,  and  towards  that  ultimate 
and  glorious  destination,  indicated,  not  less  by  the 
very  condition  and  relations  of  his  being,  than  by 
the  explicit  declarations  of  the  divine  oracles.  In 
the  inspired  history  of  those  worthies  who  acted  so 
conspicuous  a  part  in  the  first  promulgation  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  Bible  gives  us  a  practical  illustration  of 
the  moral  force  of  this  principle.  By  its  influence 
alone,  can  we  account  for  the  unparalleled  labours 
and  patient  endurance  of  evils  exhibited  by  the  great 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  It  was  this  which  inspired 
his  moral  courage,  and  carried  his  noble  spirit  tri- 
umphantly through  such  scenes  of  action  and  of 
suffering,  as  he  has  described  in  the  following  elo- 
quent paragraph.  "In  labours  more  abundant,  in 
stripes  above  measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in 
deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I  forty 
stripes,  save  one.  Thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods, 
once  was  I  stoned,  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck,  a 


ADDRESS.  337 

night  and  a  day  I  have  heen  in  the  deep:  in  jour- 
neyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  rob- 
bers, in  perils  by  mine  own  countrymen,  in  perils 
by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the 
wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  amongst 
false  brethren,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in 
watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings 
often,  in  cold  and  nakedness.  Besides  those  things 
that  are  without,  that  which  cometh  upon  me  daily, 
the  care  of  all  the  churches.  Who  is  weak,  and  I 
am  not  weak?  Who  is  offended,  and  I  burn  not?'' 
"The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us!"  This 
was  the  great  master  impulse  that  urged  him  on- 
ward and  upward  in  his  shining  way,  till  he  seized 
that  crown  of  righteousness  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  judge,  had  prepared  for  him.  To  the  vi- 
gour and  vital  sway  of  this  principle,  are  attributa- 
ble the  moral  triumphs  of  the  primitive  Christians 
in  their  dauntless  withstandings  of  the  organized 
opposition  of  the  heathen  world — in  their  unwaver- 
ing adherence  to  the  cause  of  truth  under  the  most 
appalling  persecutions  and  tortures — in  their  cease- 
less efforts  to  spread  the  gospel  and  to  bless  the 
world,  and  in  their  holy  calm  and  quietude  of  spirit 
when  facing  the  terrors  of  the  rack  and  the  gibbet, 
the  scaffold  and  the  stake  of  martyrdom.  What  a 
sublime  principle  of  action  is  this!  fully  adequate  to 
all  the  achievements  which  redeemed  human  nature 
is  ever  destined  to  make.  Now,  the  Bible  proposes 
to  gather  all  the  energies  of  the  young  man  under 
the  control  of  such  a  principle,  a  principle  which 
eminently  characterized  the  course  of  the  Divine 
Saviour  himself  while  on  earth — a  principle  which 
29 


338  ADDRESS. 

governs  the  diversified  and  untiring  activities  of  all 
sinless  intelligences  throughout  the  viist  empire  of 
God.  And  here,  it  may  be  remarked,  also,  that 
should  the  young  man  not  become  pious,  nor  volun- 
tarily submit  his  heart  to  the  control  of  this  princi- 
ple, yet  the  very  consideration,  that  redeemed  hu- 
man nature  is  capable  of  being  moved  and  directed 
permanently  by  so  glorious  a  law  of  activity,  will 
exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the  character,  pursuits, 
and  principles  of  the  young  man. 

True  to  the  mental  constitution  of  the  young 
man,  the  Bible  not  only  protects  from  internal  and 
external  causes  of  ruin,  presents  the  noblest  objects 
of  pursuit,  urges  to  the  loftiest  deeds  of  Christian 
heroism,  and  supplies  the  most  powerful  principle 
of  action,  but  it  also  addresses  that  peculiar  sus- 
ceptibility of  his  mind  by  ivhich  he  is  led  to  in- 
dulge ardent  and  lofty  hopes.  That  power  which 
liolds  its  prism  to  the  eye  of  the  youthful  mind,  and 
thus  throws  a  gorgeous  colouring  over  every  future 
object,  acts  now  with  greatest  intensity,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  direction  given  to  it,  must  necessa- 
rily play  a  conspicuous  part  amongst  those  causes 
that  form  the  character,  and  contribute  to  the  weal 
or  the  wo  of  man.     A  poet  has  said — 

"Hope  springs  eternal  in  tlie  human  breast." 

This  is  not  universally  true.  Hope  springs  eternal 
in  the  regenerated  human  breast.  To  all  others  it 
has  a  period,  and  is  limited  to  the  narrow  cycles  of 
a  portion  of  man's  present  being.  But  it  cannot 
have  escaped  the  most  ordinary  observation,  that 
young  men  instinctively  cherish  great  hopes.  This, 
perhaps,  is  the  natural  result  of  an  immortal  princi- 


ADDRESS.  339 

pie — of  the  germ  of  an  existence  that  can  only  de- 
velop its  appropriate  powers,  and  enter  on  scenes 
of  action  and  enjoyment  suited  to  its  nature  in  a  fu- 
ture world.  Or,  it  may  be  the  result  of  that  "dis- 
proportion between  the  human  passions  and  their 
ordinary  objects,  which  constitutes  one  of  the  strong- 
est internal  evidences  of  man's  future  destination.'' 
Whatever  may  be  its  cause,  the  fact  itself  is  indis- 
putable; the  mind  of  the  young  man  eagerly  com- 
passes vast  objects  of  hope.  The  pleasures  of  hope 
enter  largely  into  the  sum  of  youthful  enjoyment. 
On  the  proper  direction  of  this  capability,  the  hap- 
piness of  the  individual  is,  to  a  great  extent,  depen- 
dent. 

Let  this  passion  of-high  and  unbounded  hope  be 
stimulated  by  the  objects  which  avarice,  or  ambi- 
tion, or  the  love  of  fame,  presents,  and  what  will 
be  the  influence  exerted  by  it  on  the  character  and 
happiness  of  the  young  man?  It  is  a  well  known 
law  of  mind,  that  we  become  assimilated  to  the  objects 
with  which  we  are  conversant.  The  truth  of  this 
is  demonstrated  in  the  power  of  certain  localities 
and  r^atural  scenery  to  modify  and  give  character  to 
a  people.  And  this  law  of  assimilation  acts  with  the 
greatest  vigour  and  intensity  on  youth.  Now,  the 
objects  embraced  by  hope,  have  precisely  the  same 
influence  over  the  minds  of  the  young,  as  though 
they  were  present  realities.  If,  then,  this  elastic 
power  expands  and  grasps  those  exciting  and  gorge- 
ous objects  beheld  from  that  summit  on  whicii  Satan 
places  the  young  mind,  when  he  shows  it  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  and  all  their  glory,  the  disas- 
trous influence  of  hope  is  incalculable.     In  such  a 


340  ADDRESS. 

case  it  becomes  the  great  lure  to  destruction.  It 
beckons  the  ardent  young  man  onward,  and  dazzles 
and  blinds  him  in  the  chase,  till  his  feet  stumble  on 
those  dark  mountains  that  bound  the  territory  of 
irrevocable  ruin!  And  when  such  hopes  are  dis- 
appointed, as  in  most  instances  they  must  be,  what 
an  influence  on  character  and  happiness  is  thus 
exerted.  What  gloom  and  despondency,  what  re- 
bellion against  the  allotments  of  Providence,  what 
mad  misanthropy,  what  desperation  and  suicide, 
have  followed  the  thwarting  of  unsanctified  hopes! 
And  yet,  by  a  permanent  susceptibility  of  his  na- 
ture, man  must  indulge  hope,  and  the  you7ig  man, 
fond,  enthusiastic  hope.  This  peculiarity,  then, 
in  the  constitution  of  the  young  mind,  cannot,  with 
safety,  be  given  over  to  the  control  of  accident,  or 
left  without  a  competent  guide.  But  where  shall 
such  a  guide  be  found?  Who  knows  what  is  in 
man,  or  what  awaits  him  in  the  veiled  and  impene- 
trable scenes  of  futurity?  Who  can  present  to  him 
legitimate  objects  of  hope  sufficiently  great  and 
commanding,  to  fill  the  capacities  of  the  soul — ob- 
jects that  shall  be  permanent  and  immutable  amidst 
the  perpetual  fluctuations  of  all  terrestrial  things? 
None  but  God.  In  his  revelation  to  man,  He  has 
made  a  munificent  provision  for  this  want  of  our 
spiritual  nature.  The  Bible  presents  all  those  ob- 
jects that  can  come  legitimately  within  the  range  of 
the  mortal  and  immortal  hopes  of  the  young  mind. 
On  its  imperishable  page  is  recorded  "/Ae  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
Is  it  natural  for  the  young  man  to  hope  for  excel- 
lence of  character  and  honourable  distinction  in  this 


ADDRESS.  3-11 

world?  The  Bible  presents  to  him  the  most  illus- 
trious examples  of  moral  worth,  the  highest  style 
of  character,  and  the  noblest  deeds  of  a  divine  he- 
roism, and  tells  him  that  the  same  exhaustless  grace 
of  God,  which  recovered  and  adorned  our  common 
nature  in  the  persons  of  those  whom  He  sanctions 
as  the  true  "Heroes  of  History,"  is  now  freely 
proffered  to  him.  The  Bible  tells  him  that  "the 
honour  which  cometh  from  above,"  and  which  has 
shed  an  unfading  lustre  on  the  character  and  lives 
of  patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  on 
earth,  and  crowned  them  with  immortal  glory  in 
heaven,  is  now  legitimately  within  his  reach.  What 
an  honour! — the  honour  of  having  all  the  noble  fa- 
culties of  his  soul  recovered  from  the  degradation 
of  the  fall,  adorned  with  the  highest  endowments  of 
our  moral  nature,  and  consecrated  to  the  exalted 
service  of  his  Redeemer,  and  to  the  promotion  of 
the  best  interests  of  his  fellow-men — the  honour  of 
being  a  son  and  heir  of  God,  a  joint  heir  with  Jesus 
Christ — the  honour  of  being  the  object  of  the  bene- 
volent ministry  of  angels,  and  of  being  allied  to  all 
the  great  and  the  good  of  Jehovah's  dominions! 
But  this  excursive  capability  of  hope  in  the  young 
mind  is  not  wholly  satisfied  with  any  thing  within 
the  range  of  earth  or  the  limits  of  time.  Its  un- 
wearied  wino;  soon  beats  against  the  boundaries  of 
the  one,  and  arrives  at  the  close  of  the  other,  and 
takes  an  upward  and  forward  aim  over  an  illimita- 
ble and  eternal  future. 

Now,  how  admirably  adapted  are  the  disclosures 
of  the  Bible  to  this  faculty  of  unbounded  hope  in 
29* 


342  ADDRESS. 

the  young  man.  It  brings  "  life  and  immortality  to 
light."  It  gives  the  certainty  of  rational  evidence 
to  the  truth  of  man's  eternal  existence.  It  presents 
to  the  ardent  hopes  of  the  young  a  boundless  scene 
of  pure  and  peaceful  being  beyond  the  utmost  verge 
of  this  life's  horizon,  and  undimmed  by  the  shadow 
of  death — a  scene  of  triumphal  and  eternal  rejoicing 
in  redeeming  grace  and  dying  love,  where  human 
nature,  purified  and  exalted,  shall  see  the  Son  of 
God  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him,  a  partner  of  his  me- 
diatorial throne  in  heaven!  The  Bible  informs  him 
that  for  the  holy  is  held  in  certain  reservation  there 
an  inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away  —  a  crown  of  righteousness  —  a 
throne  of  glory — an  uninterrupted  and  transform- 
ing vision  of  Jehovah's  face — an  everlasting  com- 
munion and  fellowship  with  all  the  pure,  congenial 
spirits  of  the  universe — a  sphere  of  action  and  en- 
joyment, in  which  the  soul  shall  expand,  and  rise, 
and  shine  through  the  progressions  of  eternity! 
This  is  "the  hope  set  before^'  the  young  man  by 
the  gospel.  It  is  just  such  a  hope  as  may  be  safely 
permitted  to  engross  and  control  the  capabilities 
of  the  young  mind.  It  embraces  all  those  objects 
adapted  to  exalt  and  ennoble  human  nature.  "  Whoso 
hath  this  hope  in  Him  purifieth  himself  even  as  He 
is  pure."  It  is  "an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure 
and  steadfast,  and  which  entereth  into  that  within 
the  veil;"  thus  binding  the  young  mind  to  all  that 
is  stable,  in  the  future  and  eternal  realities  of  hea- 
ven, coupling  it  with  all  that  is  powerful  and  pre- 
valent in  the  intercessions  of  the  great  "Forerun- 
within  that  veil,  and  ena- 


ADDRESS.  343 

bling  it  to  outride  the  storms  of  earth,  and  to  survive 
"  the  wreck  of  matter  and  tiie  crash  of  worlds." 

In  view  of  these  influences  exerted  by  the  Bible 
on  young  men,  what  philanthropist  can  witlihold 
the  best  wishes  of  his  heart  and  the  noblest  labours 
of  his  hand  from  this  great  national  society  repre- 
sented here  to-day,  whose  object  is  to  multiply 
and  difl'use  copies  of  the  holy  scriptures,  till  they 
shall  come  in  contact  with  the  minds  of  all  the 
youth  of  our  country?  The  relation  of  this  society 
to  the  young  men  of  our  republic,  and  the  influence 
it  is  destined  ultimately  to  exert  on  their  minds, 
foreshadow  results  of  stupendous  and  incalculable 
interest.  The  homage  paid  to  the  Bible  by  the  ta- 
lent, intelligence,  and  rank  now  enlisted  in  this  and 
kindred  associations  in  other  countries,  and  the  un- 
tiring zeal  and  noble  devotion  of  some  of  the  great- 
est minds  in  diffusing  the  light  of  revealed  truth, 
have  branded  with  infamy  the  sentiment  once  so 
popular  with  young  men,  that  it  is  the  mark  of  dis- 
tinguished intellect  to  neglect  and  affect  to  despise 
the  sacred  oracles.  Time  was  when  such  affecta- 
tion was  regarded  as  the  index  of  an  enviable  eleva- 
tion above  the  vulgar,  and  as  the  proof  of  that  libe- 
ralizing philosophical  discrimination  which  distin- 
guishes between  the  original  principles  of  our  na- 
ture, and  the  prejudices  and  superstitions  which  ac- 
cident or  education  may  have  superinduced  upon 
them.  But  that  time  has  passed  away.  The  Bible 
has  commanded  the  reverence  and  admiration  of  too 
many  gifted  and  mighty  minds — it  has  laid  under 
contribution  for  its  spread  through  the  world  too 
high  a  style  of  beneficent  action  and   too  exalted 


344  ADDRESS. 

qualities  of  moral  character,  and  at  this  moment  is 
exerting  on  large  portions  of  civilized  and  educated 
man,  too  deep  and  controlling  an  influence,  to  per- 
mit mere  cavilling  and  contemptuous  skepticism  to 
pass  currently  any  longer  as  a  mark  of  genius! 
The  very  existence  of  this  society  demonstrates  to 
our  young  men  that  the  holy  volume  has  come  fortli 
unharmed  and  in  renovated  splendour  from  the 
deadly  attacks  of  the  French  and  English  infidelity 
of  a  past  age,  and  the  German  neology  of  the  pre- 
sent; and,  in  its  own  beautiful  language  respecting 
the  sun,  "  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his 
chamber,  and  rejoiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a 
race;'^  and  soon  it  will  be  true  also  of  this  sacred 
volume:  its  "going  forth  is  from  the  end  of  the 
heaven,  and  its  circuit  unto  the  ends  of  it;  and  there 
is  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof'^  The  futility 
and  madness  of  opposition  to  the  vital  word  is  now 
most  obvious.  The  holy  oracles,  by  the  inherent 
energy  of  eternal  truth,  have  broken  away  for  ever 
from  the  angry  grasp  of  an  infidel  world,  and  are 
now  destined  to  "run  and  have  free  course,  and  be 
glorified,"  till  that  splendid  consummation  when 
the  whole  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord!  This  being  the  case,  the  labours  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  to  supply  the  nation,  and 
to  keep  it  supplied  with  the  scriptures,  will  soon 
exhibit  a  phenomenon  which  the  world,  to  any  con- 
siderable extent,  has  never  yet  witnessed;  namely, 
the  standard  of  mental  and  moral  character  to  which 
the  Bible  can  elevate  and  conform  young  men. 
When  it  comes  into  the  possession  and  is  perused 
by  the   great   majority  of  the  youth   now  urging 


ADDRESS.  345 

closely  on  the  steps  of  tliosc  who  tread  the  various 
walks  of  mature  life,  what  a  clilFerent  generation 
will  they  be  from  those  that  have  preceded  them ! 
What  a  refinement  and  elevation  of  the  domestic 
and  social  affections  will  they  exhibit,  when  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  those  delicate  and  exquisitely  ten- 
der home  scenes  which  the  Bible  presents  with  so 
touching  a  simplicity  in  its  early  history  of  our 
race!  What  an  estimate  will  they  form  of  the  real 
dignity  of  human  nature,  and  of  what  constitutes 
the  noblest  attributes  of  man,  as  they  contemplate 
those  worthies  whom  the  scriptures  present  as  the 
true  models  of  the  Christian  heroic  character — 
worthies  who  still  exist,  though  parted  from  earth, 
and  will  live  on  and  act  a  distinguished  part  in  the 
great  drama  of  intelligent  being  in  a  future  and  end- 
less economy !  What  a  surprising  effect  will  be 
produced  on  their  taste  and  imagination  when  the 
minds  of  young  men  are  familiar  and  filled  with  the 
splendid  imagery  of  the  Bible!  From  this  source 
even  Byron  himself,  with  all  his  moody  skepticism, 
borrowed  a  redeeming  radiance  that  shone  in  strange 
contrast  with  the  gloomy  conceptions  of  his  own 
mighty  but  perverted  genius.  What  serenity,  what 
elevation,  what  expansion  of  mind,  and  what  thrill- 
ing emotions  of  heart  will  characterize  the  young 
man  deeply  imbued  with  the  conception  of  those 
forms  of  calm,  immortal  beauty,  those  scenes  of  pro- 
found repose,  and  those  objects  of  natural  and  mo- 
ral sublimity  which  pervade  the  poetry  of  inspira- 
tion !  Nor  can  we  estimate  the  effect  that  may  yet  be 
produced  on  the  minds  of  young  men  by  the  contem- 
plation of  those  scenes  of  intense  interest  and  over- 


346  ADDRESS. 

matching  grandeur  which  the  prophecy  of  the  Bible 
declares  are  yet  to  be  enacted  in  our  world.  Who 
may  adequately  conceive  of  the  rich  and  glowing 
adornment  of  the  young  mind  in  every  virtue  that 
exalts  and  gives  lasting  worth  to  man,  when  it  has 
learned  to  breathe  in  and  appreciate  the  celestial 
purity  of  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  God's  book? 
If,  by  a  divine  blessing,  the  labours  of  this  society 
shall  be  successful  in  bringing  the  majority  of  young 
men  in  our  country  under  these  influences  of  the 
Bible,  how  amazing  will  be  the  result  on  the  litera- 
ture, the  politics,  the  social  institutions,  and  the  mo- 
rals of  this  nation!  The  heaven-descended  dove 
will  then  be  more  prominent  than  the  American 
eagle;  peace  and  purity,  integrity  and  truth  will 
supersede  the  strife  and  crime,  the  intrigue  and 
falsehood  which  have  stained  the  recent  pages  of 
our  history;  talent  and  learning  will  then  bow  to 
the  cross,  and  genius  again  present  its  richest  gems 
as  an  offering  to  that  pure  and  vital  Christianity  per- 
sonated and  acted  out  by  the  young  men  of  this 
great  and  free  republic,  whilst  "the  dew  of  their 
youth  "  is  still  fresh  and  sparkling  upon  them. 


ADDRESS.  317 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  A  DORCAS  SOCIETY  OF  YOUNG 


PASTORAL  CHARGE.' 


The  elevated  enjoyments  of  Intellect  constitute 
the  most  marked  difference  between  man  and  the 
inferior  tribes  of  animals.  The  gratifications  of  the 
latter  are  limited  exclusively  to  the  narrow  sphere 
of  the  senses.  The  highest  order  of  irrational  crea- 
tures never  partake  of  the  pleasures  of  thought. 
It  is  the  province  and  the  privilege  of  man  only  (in 
our  world,)  to  break  over  the  enclosures  of  sense, 
and  away  from  present  objects,  and  to  wander  in 
pleasing  memory  over  the  past,  or  bound  onward  in 
imagination  and  hope,  through  an  indefinite  future 
peopled  with  forms  of  ideal  beauty  and  loveliness, 
that  subdue  and  captivate  the  heart.  God  has  so 
constructed  the  mechanism  of  the  human  mind,  that 
its  own  movements  prove  a  source  of  happiness.  In 
the  very  capability  and  exercise  of  thinking,  the 
mind  is  conscious  of  an  enjoyment  immeasurably 

*  The  author  prefers  the  method,  here  adopted,  of  publishing  the  ad- 
dress with  all  the  marks  of  famiHarity  of  style,  and  of  his  pastoral  relation 
to  the  hearers,  rather  than  that  of  giving  it  a  more  abstract  and  -essay- 
like  form,  which  might,  indeed,  add  somewhat  to  its  merit,  in  point  of 
diction,  but  which  would  deprive  it  of  that  interest,  which  attaches  to  an 
address  that  bears  the  evidence  of  having  been  aciualhj  spoken  to  real 
living  human  beings. 


348  ADDRESS. 

superior  to  that  derived*  from  impressions  on  the 
senses,  and  of  a  kind  that  can  only  belong  to  an 
intellectual  being.  To  us,  perhaps,  the  most  inte- 
resting view  that  can  be  taken  of  the  human  mind, 
is  to  contemplate  it  as  an  instrument  of  happiness, 
A  critical  analysis  of  all  its  powers,  susceptibilities, 
and  tendencies,  physical  and  moral,  and  of  the  ulte- 
rior issues  to  which  they  were  originally  designed 
to  lead,  will  prove  that  the  mind  was  constructed 
as  an  instrument  of  happiness,  just  as  much  as  the 
harp  or  the  organ  was  made  to  "discourse  sweet 
music."  The  adaptations  in  the  one  case  are  as 
clear  and  recognizable  as  in  the  other.  No  one  can 
be  acquainted  with  its  capacities,  and  can  have  no- 
ticed the  boundless  resources  of  thought  and  emo- 
tion furnished  by  the  wide  universe,  without  per- 
ceiving the  relation  which  the  mind,  as  an  instru- 
ment, bears  to  the  highest  happiness  of  man.  It  is 
not  only  the  subject  of  those  passive  impressions  of 
pleasure,  made  on  it  by  the  beauty  and  sublimity  of 
nature,  in  which  the  hand  of  God  strikes  its  chords 
and  elicits  sweet  notes  in  the  soul  as  the  breeze  on 
the  ^olian  harp,  but  liseM  originates  thought,  and 
takes  its  voluntary  excursions  through  intellectual 
realms,  where  it  creates  the  noble  scenery  it  con- 
templates, and  finds  bliss  in  the  employment  of  its 
own  wonderful  capacities.  It  would  be  trite,  in- 
deed, to  remark,  that  in  order  to  enjoy  the  mental 
liappiness  for  which  the  Creator  destined  us,  the 
mind  must  be  cultivated.  If  the  greater  part  of 
our  intellectual  joys  be  ^lot  passive  but  active — if 
they  depend  on  the  voluntary  exercise  of  our  pow- 
ers, and  the  direction  which  we  give  to  our  trains 


ADDRESS.  349 

of  thought,  then,  obviously,  our  happiness  of  this 
kind  is  suspended  on  the  care  and  assiduity  with 
which  we  cultivate  our  minds.  The  mind,  though 
in  one  aspect  an  instrument,  differs  from  all  others 
in  this,  that  it  has  a  self-moving  power — it  tunes 
itself,  and  has  a  voluntary  control  over  its  own 
operations.  The  bearing  then  of  mental  cultivation 
on  our  happiness  is  too  obvious  to  require  illustra- 
tion. The  great  and  characteristic  intellectual  dif- 
ference between  the  lowest  classes  of  society,  whose 
range  of  thought  and  of  mental  enjoyment  is  but 
little  wider  than  that  of  the  inferior  animals,  and 
the  higher  and  liberally  educated  is,  that  the  latter 
can  withdraw  their  attention  from  the  objects  of 
sense,  and  direct  it,  at  pleasure,  to  those  intellectual 
combinations  which  delight  the  imagination.  If, 
then,  mental  cultivation  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  happiness  of  mankind  generally,  it  has  a 
special  bearing,  for  reasons  hereafter  to  be  given, 
on  the  happiness  of  the  gentler  sex.  Permit  me, 
then,  on  this  occasion,  to  suggest  to  you  a  few 
thoughts  on  the  influence  of  intellectual  cultivation 
on  female  happiness.  The  phrase,  "intellectual 
cultivation, "  is  liable  to  be  understood  by  some  in 
too  restricted  a  sense.  I  therefore  premise  that  I 
do  not  mean  by  it  merely  that  young  ladies  shall 
have  gone  through  the  ordinary  course  of  female 
education.  It  is  possible  to  master  every  brancli 
embraced  in  the  most  thorough  system  of  the  schools, 
and  yet  the  power  of  original  and  independent  think- 
ing may  never  have  been  called  into  action.  Many 
a  youth  wlio  has  no  mean  oj)inion  of  his  own  ge- 
nius, carries  away  his  parchment  testimonials  from 
30 


350  ADDRESS. 

the  best  college  or  university  of  tlie  land  duly  signed 
and  sealed,  aye,  and  goes  delightfully  burdened  with 
academic  honours  too,  who  is  most  profoundly  ig- 
norant of  the  art  of  thinking,  and  an  utter  stranger 
to  the  lofty  enjoyment  thence  resulting.  So,  many 
a  young  lady  completes  an  extensive  and  accom- 
plished education  without  ever  having  had  one  dis- 
tinct original  train  of  thought  during  the  whole 
course,  or  ever  having  learned  that  she  possesses  an 
inherent  capability  of  originating  and  prosecuting 
intellectual  speculations  peculiarly  her  oivn.  This 
capability  is  entirely  distinct  from  that  almost  me- 
chanical operation  of  the  memory  and  of  the  under- 
standing, which  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  acquire 
what  is  often  termed  a  good  education.  It  is  pos- 
sible to  store  the  memory  with  all  the  facts,  and  to 
exercise  the  understanding  so  as  to  comprehend  all 
the  principles  of  the  various  branches  of  learning, 
and  yet  the  power  of  thinking  for  one^s  se/f  never 
be  developed.  So  it  is  possible,  after  an  education 
is  said  to  be  "  finished,"  to  pursue  an  extended 
course  of  reading,  and  acquire  treasures  of  valuable 
information,  whilst  the  capability  of  originating  and 
prosecuting  independent  trains  of  thought  lies  ut- 
terly dormant. 

What  is  meant  then  by  intellectual  cultivation,  is 
such  a  development  and  discipline  of  all  the  men- 
tal capacities  as  will  enable  the  mind,  apart  from  all 
external  appliances,  to  elaborate  those  forms  of 
thought  or  combination  of  ideas  which  will  bear 
upon  them  its  own  image  and  superscription.  This 
necessarily  includes  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
mind  itself.     It  were  preposterous  to  suppose  that 


ADDRESS.  351 

any  one  could  use  an  insti'iiment  to  advantage  while 
ignorant  of  its  nature.  The  study  of  intellectual 
philosopliy,  not  as  a  matter  of  mere  memory,  but  as 
a  science  to  be  verified  by  a  reference  to  her  own 
experience,  and  by  a  careful  analysis  of  her  own 
mental  states,  is  indispensable  to  the  proper  culti- 
vation of  any  lady's  mind.  This  is  the  science 
which  pre-eminently  teaches  the  art  of  thinking,  by 
ascertaining  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  point- 
ing out  the  laws  that  produce  or  control  its  various 
phenomena.  Proper  culture  of  mind  will  include 
also  the  development  and  exercise  of  the  power  of 
generalization.  By  this  is  meant  that  power  by 
which  the  mind  passes  from  the  consideration  of 
isolated,  particular  objects,  (which  would  greatly 
limit  the  range  of  thought  and  of  knowledge,)  to  the 
contemplation  of  vast  and  extended  classes  or  orders 
that  have  some  relation  of  resemblance  common  to 
all  the  individuals  of  which  they  are  composed. 
This  is  the  faculty  on  which  all  our  processes  of 
reasoning  depend;  and  need  I  say  that  that  does  not 
deserve  the  name  of  intellectual  cultivation  which 
does  not  include  the  capability  of  extended,  close, 
consecutive  reasoning;.  In  the  mental  trainins:  of 
ladies,  the  evolution,  discipline,  and  right  direction 
of  the  imagination  is  an  object  of  primary  moment. 
No  class  suffer  so  deeply  the  effects  of  a  lawless  or 
ill-regulated  action  of  this  faculty,  and  no  class  are 
susceptible  of  a  purer  or  more  elevated  pleasure  from 
its  legitimate  exercise  than  ladies.  I  do  not  mean 
by  imagination  merely  the  capability  of  passively 
enjoying  the  exquisite  productions  of  genius  in  the 
imitative  and  liberal  arts — nor  of  appreciating  only 


352  ADDRESS. 

the  splendid  imagery  and  magnificent  creations  of 
the  poet,  but  of  forming  for  one's  self  those  rare 
combinations  of  thought  which  are  to  the  mind's 
eye  what  the  evershifting  beauties  of  the  kaleido- 
scope are  to  the  bodily,  and  which  throw  their  rain- 
bow colourings  on  the  darkest  clouds  that  the  reali- 
ties of  life  ever  roll  over  our  pathway.  In  addition 
to  this,  proper  mental  culture  includes  also  a  power 
of  contemplating  things,  not  in  those  common,  ob- 
vious aspects  in  which  they  appear  to  undisciplined 
minds,  but  in  those  more  remote,  extended,  and  re- 
condite relations  which  classify  and  connect  them 
with  other  and  distant  objects,  which  are  never  vi- 
sible to  the  vulgar  eye.  Allied  to  this,  and  equally 
included,  is  the  capability  of  mind  to  pursue  its  own 
far-reaching  speculations;  not  learned  from  books, 
nor  aided  by  conversation,  but  under  the  prompt- 
ings of  its  native  and  disciplined  energies — a  capa- 
bility of  taking  its  towering  flight,  and,  with  tireless 
and  excursive  wing,  wandering  over  those  distant 
and  pathless  regions  of  thought  hitherto  unmarked 
by  the  foot-prints  of  any  other  intellectual  adven- 
turer. 

My  fair  hearers,  by  this  time,  are  doubtless  dis- 
couraged by  the  elevation  and  perfection  of  the 
standard  I  have  now  presented.  I  can  only  reply, 
its  measure  'inay  be  attained  by  the  majority  of  edu- 
cated females,  ?*/*they  will  only  devote  as  much  time 
to  solid  intellectual  acquisition  as  they  squander  use- 
lessly at  their  toilet,  or  worse  than  uselessly,  in  fri- 
volous company,  or  in  the  infatuation  of  novel- 
reading.  The  standard  needs  be  no  higher,  and  it 
ought  not  to  be  lower  than  to  demand   such  a  de- 


ADDRESS.  353 

velopment,  discipline,  and  control  of  all  the  mental 
faculties  as  shall  enable  woman  to  perform  the  du- 
ties and  attain  the  noble  destinies  of  an  intellectual, 
thinking  being,  created  originally  in  the  image  of 
God.  That  this  will  contribute  to  the  happiness  of 
either  sex  is  obvious,  because,  by  thus  cultivating 
the  mind,  we  act  in  accordance  with  the  laws  by 
which  God  designed  it  to  be  governed,  and  fulfil 
one  of  the  great  purposes  of  our  creation.  As  has 
been  intimated,  the  Deity  designed  to  make  the  ex- 
ercise of  thought  itself  a  source  of  happiness  to  the 
mind.  Next  to  the  pure  and  peaceful  joys  of  piety 
are  the  pleasures  of  a  well-trained  intellect.  They 
are  not  only  incomparably  above  those  of  sense,  but 
are  mainly  independent  of  external  circumstances. 
They  become  so  incorporated  with,  and  a  part  of, 
the  mind  itself,  as  to  be  unaffected  by  those  per- 
petual changes  that  are  passing  on  all  inferior  ob- 
jects of  enjoyment.  What  lady  would  not  aspire 
to  have  the  lot  of  her  inheritance  cast  in  this  "hill 
country '^  of  intellectual  joy? — this  middle  region 
of  the  atmosphere,  far  above  the  mists  and  murky 
vapour  of  mere  animal  enjoyment,  and  but  a  little 
below  thctse  bright  altitudes  of  thought  and  emotion 
occupied  by  pure  and  lofty  intelligences! 

It  is  a  grateful  task  for  me  to  point  out  to  you  the 
influence  which  intellectual  cultivation  will  exert 
on  your  happiness  in  society.  The  sweet  sympa- 
thies that  bind  the  heart  of  man  to  his  fellow  man 
as  a  social  being,  and  especially  those  exquisitely 
tender  ties  that  connect  with  us  the  fairer  half  of 
creation,  furnish  a  source  of  enjoyment,  by  the  in- 
terchange of  thought,  and  the  reciprocity  of  scnti- 
30* 


354  ADDRESS. 

merit  and  emotion  to  which  they  lead,  that  can  only 
be  appreciated  by  a  cultivated  mind.  Woman  was 
designed  to  reap  the  richer  portion  of  this  golden 
harvest  of  social  joys.  She  was  pre-eminently  in- 
tended and  fitted  to  shine  in  the  circle  of  friendship, 
where  "heart  meets  heart  reciprocally  warm,"  and 
to  partake  largely  of  the  "feast  of  reason  and  the 
flow  of  soul."  Some  of  the  happiest  hours  in  the 
early  life  of  Miss  Hannah  More  were  those  spent 
in  the  social  circle  with  Johnson,  Burk,  and  their 
literary  cotemporaries,  who  constituted,  at  the  time, 
the  stars  of  Great  Britain.  Amidst  that  galaxy  of 
gifted  minds  she  shone  fair  as  the  moon  in  peerless 
beauty. 

It  was  intellectual  cultivation  alone  that  rendered 
her  susceptible  of  the  high  enjoyment  she  derived 
from  this  source,  and  which  made  her  at  one  time 
the  idol  of  the  literary  circles  of  London.  It  is  this 
alone,  my  fair  hearers,  which  will  enable  you  to 
command  those  elevated  and  ennobling  topics  of 
conversation,  and  that  ready  and  graceful  utterance 
of  your  thoughts,  that  will  impart  to  you  a  conscious 
dignit}^  and  ease  during  your  social  intercourse,  and 
furnish  material  for  delightful  reflection  afterwards. 
How  grovelling  and  pitiful  is  that  meagre  gratifica- 
tion which  results  from  the  sinaU  talk,  the  gossip, 
and,  too  often,  the  back-biting  and  slander  that  cha- 
racterize the  interviews  of  those  deemed  ladies! 
Wherever  these  prevail,  they  may  be  regarded  as 
the  infallible  indication  of  a  want  of  mental  culture. 
They  are  the  rags  of  intellectual  poverty,  and  like 
the  self-righteousness  of  the  sinner,  they  are  (pardon 
the  homely,  though  inspired  saying,)  ^'filthy  rags." 


ADDRESS.  355 

Amidst  what  is  often  termed  an  array  of  fashion  and 
beauty,  the  thoughtful  mind  will  find  itself  absorbed 
and  ahstracted  in  melancholy  reflections,  on  the  loss 
of  social  happiness  sustained  by  ladies  through  the 
lack  of  that  mental  elevation  and  culture  which 
would  enable  them  to  introduce  such  topics,  and  in- 
terchange such  thoughts,  as  would,  according  to  the 
laws  of  mind,  promote  the  enjoyment  of  a  rational, 
thinking  creature.  It  is  impossible,  our  intellectual 
constitution  Yem-Aimngwhat  it  is,  that  the  ordinary 
tea-party  "chit-chat"  of  ladies,  should  minister  any 
solid  or  lasting  pleasure  to  the  immortal  mind.  No; 
to  realize  the  purest  and  highest  joys  of  your  social 
nature,  you  must  possess  a  degree  of  intellectual 
cultivation  which  will  enable  you  to  leave  the  fri- 
volous truisms  and  hackneyed  topics  of  the  day,  and 
to  select  those  fresh  and  original  subjects  of  conver- 
sation which  are  the  result  of  your  own  habits  of 
close  and  discriminating  thought,  which  constitute 
the  intellectual  wealth  that  you  have  been  toiling 
for,  and  have  acquired  in  your  hours  of  retirement 
and  application.  It  is  this  which  will  attract  to  you 
the  real  intelligence  of  the  company,  and  give  you 
command  over  the  springs  of  other  minds,  and  a 
participation  in  their  delight  and  surprise,  that  you 
have  so  successfully  awakened  and  directed  their 
powers  of  thought.  And  while  you  have  thus  the 
conscious  pleasure  of  enriching  them,  you  may  also 
have  the  additional  gratification  of  finding  returned 
to  you  with  interest,  what  you  have  imparted  to 
them,  by  the  new  collateral  trains  of  thought  which 
those  minds  will  be  enabled  to  pursue  in  consequence 
of  the  capital  which  you  have  furnished  them.     The 


356  ADtJgESS. 

impulsive  power  thus  exerted  on  others  by  your 
conversation,  may  carry  them  be3^ond  the  limits  of 
)'our  speculations  on  a  particular  subject,  and  cause 
them  in  turn  to  impart  a  delightful  intellectual  sti- 
mulus to  you.  But  there  is  another  way  in  which 
menial  culture  will  greatly  contribute  to  your  hap- 
piness in  society,  viz.:  by  the  just  observations  it 
will  enable  you  to  make.  The  action  of  a  well  de- 
veloped and  disciplined  mind  on  the  phenomena  of 
social  life,  cannot  fail  of  being  a  source  of  solid  en- 
joyment. But  what  improvement  or  pleasure  can 
result  from  the  kind  of  observations  which  some  la- 
dies make  on  society?  And  what  must  be  the  only 
class  of  observations  that  can  be  made  by  all  ladies 
who  have  neglected  the  faculty  of  thinking  and  rea- 
soning? Why,  to  notice  critically  all  the  dresses  of 
their  own  sex,  and  to  comment  thereon,  especially 
to  decry  the  costume  of  a  rival  beauty  as  not  at  all 
pretty  nor  in  good  taste,  to  test  the  quality  of  lace, 
and,  if  possible,  the  genuineness  of  diamond  rings 
and  jewelry,  to  notice  the  grace  with  which  a  gen- 
tleman enters  the  room,  whether  his  locks  and 
whiskers  are  exactly  the  genteel  cut,  whether  he 
has  a  beautiful  hand  and  a  small  cultivated  foot,  and 
whether  he  has  the  right  inclination  of  body,  the 
line  of  grace  in  the  position  of  the  neck  and  head, 
when  he  pays  his  adoration  to  the  fair  ones.  Though 
this  may  approach  to  caricature,  yet  there  is  too 
much  of  truth  in  it  when  applied  to  the  observa- 
tions made  on  society  by  some  ladies  of  whom  we 
might  expect  better  things.  How-  much  such  ob- 
servations can  enrich,  ennoble,  and  bless  an  intelli- 
gent rational  nature,  I  leave  my  gentle  hearers  to 


ADDRESS.  357 

determine.  Besides  the  charm  which  it  gives  to 
conversation,  intellectual  cultivation  will  enable  you 
to  enjoy  a  refined  mental  pleasure  in  those  silent 
processes  of  thought  involved  in  the  habits  of  ob- 
servation on  society  to  which  it  will  give  rise.  In 
those  intervals  which  necessarily  occur  in  conver- 
sation, a  highly  cultivated  mind  will  look  with  the 
eye  of  a  philosopher  on  the  developments  of  man's 
social  nature  then  being  made.  Such  a  mind  will 
not  regard  the  phenomena  thus  exhibited  as  casual, 
isolated  things,  furnishing  no  materials  for  profita- 
ble reflection,  and  resolvable  into  no  great  princi- 
ples. It  will  analyze,  classify,  and  refer  them  to 
some  general  laws  of  our  social  being.  Thus  will 
it  enlarge  its  knowledge  of  the  philosophy  of  one 
department  of  human  nature,  acquire  a  more  correct 
estimate  of  character,  strengthen  its  judgment  of 
men  and  social  affairs,  and  obtain  the  materials  of 
subsequent  profitable  speculation.  Such  a  mind 
will  find  no  difficulty  in  estimating  the  exact  worth 
of  a  great  part  of  the  apparent  politeness  and  profes- 
sions of  friendship  common  amongst  even  the  better 
circles.  To  the  untutored,  unreflecting  individual, 
there  is  much  in  the  forms  of  society  adapted  to  de- 
ceive, much  in  the  apparent  pleasure  which  some 
would  be  thought  to  take  in  our  company,  which  is 
gross  hypocrisy.  It  grieves  me  to  say  it,  but  so 
common  is  the  weakness  and  credulity  of  ladies  in 
this  respect,  that  it  tempts  the  unprincipled  of  the 
other  sex  to  play  upon  them  by  flattering  attentions, 
for  no  other  purpose  than  simply  to  ascertain  how 
credulous  and  confiding  woman  is! 

In  society,  a  cultivated  and   reflective  mind  \v\\\ 


358  ADDRESS. 

also  learn  some  of  its  most  impressive  lessons  of  the 
vanity  of  life.  Amidst  the  gayest  scene  of  fashion, 
youth,  and  beauty,  such  a  mind  will  scarcely  fail  to 
glance  forward  and  anticipate  the  sad  changes  which 
the  lapse  of  years  and  larger  experience  of  human 
ills  bring  upon  that  now  buoyant  and  joyous  com- 
pany. One  of  the  most  mournfully  pleasing  and 
profitable  trains  of  thought  on  the  short-lived  joys 
and  transitory  existence  of  man,  might  have  been 
had  some  twenty  years  ago,  while  promenading  in 
Castle  Garden,  New  York,  as  it  then  was,  with  a 
friend  by  your  side,  and  surrounded  by  three  or 
four  thousand  of  the  young,  the  gay,  pleasure-loving 
inhabitants  of  that  great  metropolis.  And  when  en- 
joying the  sweets  of  social  intercourse,  while  these 
thoughts  of  the  fleeting  nature  of  all  earthly  joys 
are  present,  how  natural  for  the  cultivated  mind  to 
indulge  lofty  aspirations  after  that  immortal  scene 
of  intimate  fellowship,  where  the  social  principle 
will  have  an  unlimited  and  enduring  sway,  and 
where  congenial  spirits,  bound  by  ties  that  can  never 
be  sundered,  shall  interchange  thought,  sentiment, 
and  affection  through  an  endless  duration. 

As  a  defence  against  ennui  when  alone,  not  less 
than  a  source  of  happiness  in  society,  woman  de- 
mands a  high  degree  of  mental  culture.  It  is  this 
pre-eminently,  that  will  minister  to  your  enjoyment 
in  those  hours  of  retirement  which  your  sphere  and 
station  in  life  necessarily  involve.  The  delicacy  of 
your  sex,  and  the  customs  of  societ}^  alike  forbid 
you  to  mingle  in  many  of  those  busy  and  bustling 
scenes  which  furnish  excitement  and  pleasure  to  the 
rougher  and  sterner  half  of  our  race.     Domestic  re- 


ADDRESS.  359 

tirement  and  the  noiseless  duties  of  home,  are  in- 
separable from  your  condition,  and  fill  up  the  greater 
portion  of  your  terrestrial  existence.  True,  the 
mere  butterflies  of  your  sex  so  manage  to  be  mostly 
on  the  wing,  fluttering  from  flower  to  flower  during 
the  short  and  summer  months  of  yo  ith.  But  even 
they  cannot  escape  their  hours  of  retirement.  No 
ingenuity  can  avoid  certain  languid  intervals,  and 
unwelcome  pauses  in  the  giddy  round  of  their  exis- 
tence, when  they  sit  with  folded  wings,  "zV/a^  ease.^^ 
All  of  you,  however,  who  design  to  confine  your- 
selves within  the  appropriate  sphere  of  woman,  and 
who  intend,  in  compliance  with  the  apostolical  in- 
junction, to  "  be  keepers  at  home^^  will  find  that 
the  greater  part  of  your  lives  must  be  spent  in  com- 
parative retirement.  Now,  how  intolerable  must 
such  retirement  be  to  a  vacant  and  unreflective 
mind? — to  a  mind  whose  only  materials  of  thought 
consist  in  those  external  objects  that  must  be  present 
to  the  senses — a  mind  whose  only  aliment  is  the  un- 
healthy, intoxicating  stimulus  ministered  by  the 
theatre,  balls,  parties,  promenades,  or  the  spiced  and 
sweetened  nonsense  that  marks  the  conversation  of 
smaller  circles  of  fashion.  In  retirement,  such  a 
mind,  by  a  law  of  the  mental  economy,  must  feel 
miserable  —  not  much  less  miserable  than  the 
wretched  sot  himself,  when  bereft  of  his  cups. 
Hence,  there  are  minds  which,  the  moment  that 
they  are  divorced  from  external  excitements  and 
obliged  to  be  alone,  feel  as  though  they  were  sus- 
pended mid-air,  in  boundless  vacancy.  The  only 
intellectual  movement  that  they  can  make  to  avoid 
an  uneasy  and  absolute  fixation,  is  to  get  their  feet 


360  ADDRESS. 

on  the  tall  stilts  which  novel-reading  furnishes,  and 
make  their  hobbling  strides  through  fairy  regions, 
neither  treading  exactly  earth  or  skies.  But  a  mind 
properly  trained,  and  richly  stored  with  the  ele- 
ments of  thought,  will  experience  none  of  this 
wretchedness,  and  be  under  no  necessity  of  betaking 
itself  to  such  resorts  in  its  seasons  of  retirement.  To 
such  a  mind,  occasional  solitude  is  congenial,  and  is 
invested  with  a  mysterious  charm.  It  covets  re- 
tirement, and  loves  at  times  to  isolate  itself  from  all 
external  excitements,  by  voluntarily  throwing  itself 
out  of,  and  beyond  the  hum  and  whirl  of  society. 
In  a  higher  sense  than  that  of  the  noble  bard,  it  can 
emphatically  exclaim — 

"  There  is  a  pleasure  in  the  pathless  woods — 
There  is  a  rapture  on  the  lonely  shore — 
There  is  society  where  none  intrudes, 
By  the  deep  sea,  and  music  in  its  roar. 
I  love  not  man  the  less,  but  nature  more, 
From  these  our  interviews,  in  which  I  steal 
From  all  I  may  be,  or  have  been  before; 
To  mingle  with  the  universe,  and  feel 
What  I  can  ne'er  express,  yet  cannot  all  conceal." 

Retirement  often  furnishes  the  well  disciplined 
mind  its  most  delightful  hours  both  of  thought  and 
of  emotion.  The  very  consciousness  of  possessing 
the  power  to  carry  on  extended  trains  of  solitary 
thinking,  is,  of  itself,  a  source  of  pleasure.  The  ex- 
ercise of  that  power,  in  the  quiet  speculations  and 
communings  of  the  soul  separated  from  all  internal 
impulses,  supplies  an  elevated  enjoyment  unknown 
to  the  crowds  of  the  sensual  and  unthinking.  And 
even  with  less  of  mental  capacity  than  this  supposes, 
how  delightful   might  the  retirement  of  ladies  be- 


ADDRESS.  361 

come,  were  they  early  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  the 
highest  and   best  class  of  authors,  and  to  hold  inti- 
mate fellowship,  by  perusing;  their  works,  with  such 
minds  as  those  of  Bacon,  Newton,  Locke,  Butler, 
Howe,   Hall,   M'Intosh,  Dugald   Stewart,  and  Dr-. 
Brown,  or  to  range  with  keen  relish  through  that 
universe  of  beauty  and  sublimity,  created  by   the 
great  master  poets  of  all  past  ages.    A  discipline  like 
this  would  soon  enable  them,  on  closing  the  volume 
of  their  favourite  author,  to  take  an  untrammelled 
excursion  by  themselves,  in  those  far  off  regions  of 
original,  independent   thought,  where   the  face   of 
things  has  never  had  a  feature  imprinted  on  it  by 
any  previous  visit  of  mind.     To  those  capable  of 
such    intellectual  employment,   time   would   never 
seem  to  fly  with  drooping,  tardy  wing.     The  hours 
of  retirement  to  which  their  station  confines  them, 
would  then  be  hailed   by  ladies,  as  occasions  of  im- 
provement and  augmented  mental  happiness.     So 
far  from  disrelishing  their  homes,  and  craving  the 
morbid  excitement  of  a  crowd,  or  the  change  and 
novelty  of  ''' Tnorning  calls,'^  they  could  then  at- 
test, in  their  own  joyous  experience,  the  truth  and 
justness  of  Cowper's  sentiment, — 

"  'Tis  pleasant  through  the  loop-holes  of  retreat, 
To  peep  at  such  a  world,  to  see  the  stir — 
Of  the  great  Babel,  and  not  feel  the  crowd; 
To  hear  the  roar  she  sends  through  all  her  gates 
At  a  safe  distance,  where  the  dying  sound, 
Falls  in  soft  mumiur  on  the  uninjured  ear. — 
Thus  sitting,  and  surveyuig,  tlius  at  ease, 
The  globe  and  its  concerns,  I  seem  advanced 
To  some  secure  and  more  than  mortal  height, 
That  liberates  and  exempts  me  from  them  all." 

To  the  minds  of  ladies  thus  employed,  there  is  a 
31 


362  ADDKESS, 

sense  of  noble  elevation  which  gives  a  dignity  and 
charm  to  their  seasons  of  retirement.  Such  minds 
can  never  know  those  intervals  of  languor  and  rest- 
less vacancy, — that  ennui  and  nervous  depression 
which  characterize  the  solitary  hours  of  too  many 
of  our  fashionable  ladies.  And  this  may  justify  me 
in  a  digressive  and  passing  remark,  on  the  influence 
of  intellectual  culture  on  female  health  and  temper. 
So  mysterious  is  the  union  between  mind  and  body, 
and  so  intimate  their  sympathy  and  reciprocal 
action  on  each  other,  that  the  state  of  the  intellect 
often  affects,  directly,  the  bodily  health  and  animal 
spirits.  When  the  mind  is  pleasantly  and  profitably 
occupied,  the  corporeal  functions  seem  to  derive, 
from  this  very  circumstance,  a  grateful  stimulus. 
Digestion  is  more  perfect,  and  sleep  more  sound  and 
refreshing.  The  nervous  system  is  pervaded  with  a 
tone  and  vigour  that  are  the  direct  results  of  mental 
employment  and  pleasure.  This  truth  is  practically 
recognised  in  the  treatment  of  the  hypochondriac  and 
the  nervous  invalid.  The  great  object  of  an  intel- 
ligent physician  in  such  cases,  is  to  combine  plea- 
sant mental  excitement  with  physical  remedies. 
Hence,  the  effort  to  break  up  the  melancholy  mo- 
notony of  the  patient,  by  sending  him  or  her  on 
jaunts  of  pleasure,  and  to  public  places  of  cheerful 
resort.  1  doubt  not,  my  fair  hearers,  that  one  great 
cause  of  the  feeble  health  of  many  of  your  sex,  is 
legitimately  attributable  to  the  want  of  intellectual 
excitement  and  activity  in  their  hours  of  retirement 
and  leisure.  To  them,  the  chariot  of  time  "drives 
heavily,"  and  its  "  wheels,^'  like  those  of  the  one 
in  which  Pharaoh  pursued  Israel,  "  come  off  in  the 


ADDRESS.  303 

sand."     External  excitement  being  removed,  llic 
mind  pines  in  its  own  emptiness.     The  brain,  as  the 
ori;an  or  instrument  of  tlie  mind,  is  thus  left  to  in- 
tervals of  inactivity,  which   have  the  same  debili- 
tating effect  on  it,  that  results  to  the  corporeal  pow- 
ers or  muscular  system  generall}^  by  too  long  sleep. 
Depression  of  spirits  is  the  necessary  consequence 
concatenated,  also,  with  lengthened  links  of  nervous 
horrors,  loss  of  appetite,  dyspepsia,  unquiet  sleep, 
irresolution,  fickleness,  tormenting  whims  and  con- 
ceits,  and    ultimately — unless    the    mind    can    be 
aroused  to  salutary  activity — confirmed  habits  of  ill 
health.    The  transition  now  to  irritability  of  temper^ 
is  easy,  and  almost  inevitable.     A  mind  thus  dis- 
satisfied with  itself,  preying  upon  the  unfortunate 
body  with  which  it  is  united,  and  in  turn,  preyed 
upon  by  the  irritated  and  abused  body — such  a  mind 
is  in  great  danger  of  welcoming  even  a  fit  of  anger, 
if  it  only  promises  to  rouse  it  from  its  lethargy,  and 
to  rescue  it  from  the  vague  wretchedness  of  its  own 
inactivity.     The  petulance  of  single  ladies  who  have 
out-lived  the  external  excitement  of  youthful  society, 
and  been  consigned  to  the  permanent  retirement  of 
a  certain  indefinite  age,  is  almost  wholly  attributable 
to   the  want  of  that  intellectual  cultivation,  which 
furnishes  the  mind  in  solitude  with  ample  sources 
of    interesting    and    felicitous    thought.       Maiden 
ladies  are  not  bound  by  fate  or  physical   necessity, 
to  be  notoriously  irritable  in  their  temper.     One  of 
the  most  buoyant,  cheerful,  humorous,  happy,  good- 
natured   individuals  with  whoin   1  have  ever  been 
acquainted,  is  a  lady  who  has  literally  lived  in  single 
blessednesSy  till  she   is  now  quite  beyond  that  age 


364  ADDRESS. 

which  legally  exempts  gentlemen  from  military 
duty.  But  in  youth,  she  disciplined  her  mind  to 
live  on  its  own  resources.  She  early  learned  the 
art  of  thinking,  and  acquired  a  keen  relish  for  those 
intellectual  joys  that  fade  not  with  the  hues  of  the 
cheek,  and  that  wither  not  with  the  wasted  form 
and  altered  gait  of  age.*  But  while  this  proves 
satisfactorily,  the  power  of  intellectual  cultivation 
on  the  happiness  of  single  ladies,  and  how  far  it 
succeeds  in  compensating  for  the  deprivation  of  all 
those  enjoyments  resulting  from  wedded  life,  and 
domestic  relations  and  endearments, — yet  "  it  is  not 
good"  that  woman,  any  more  than  "man,  should 
be  alone;"  nor  is  it  the  general  law  of  the  divine 
economy  that  she  should  be.  I  therefore  remark, 
that  mental  culture  will  tell  directly  and  powerfully 
on  your  happiness,  hy  the  disposition  ivhich  it  will 
lead  you  to  make  of  your  affections,  or,  in  other 
words,  by  the  influence  it  will  have  on  your 
choice  of  a  partner  for  life.  My  fair  hearers, 
spare  your  smile  at  the  introduction  of  this  topic. 
It  is  a  subject  involving  the  totality  of  your  domes- 
tic happiness.  God  designed  that  one  principal 
source  of  your  earthly  enjoyment,  should  consist  in 
the  exercise  of  those  delicate  and  deep  affections 

*  Since  this  lecture  was  delivered,  the  author  has  had  the  pleasure  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  a  single  lady,  quite  advanced  in  years,  who 
has  more  than  the  mental  activity,  and  all  the  sunny  cheerfulness  of 
eighteen,  and  who,  in  her  susceptibility  of  warm  and  noble  friendship 
— in  the  fresh  and  vigorous  play  of  the  benevolent  affections — in  her 
mental  discipline,  and  intellectual  treasures,  and  in  the  charm  of  her  con- 
versation, and  her  power  of  entertaining  agreeably  an  educated  guest,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  individuals,  male  or  female,  with  whom  he 
has  ever  met  in  the  course  of  his  life. 


ADDRESS.  365 

with  which  he  has  so  si2;nally  endowed  your  sex. 
Truth,  as  well  as  poetry,  dictated  the  declaration, 
that  "  W0771O71  was  made  to  love.^^  If  her  affeclions 
be  misplaced  or  blighted,  by  the  very  constitution 
of  her  nature  the  world  becomes  a  blank  to  her, 
and  in  vain  offers  her  its  richest  treasures  as  a  com- 
pensation for  her  loss.  Man,  when  disappointed, 
can  betake  himself  to  the  pursuit  of  military  glory, 
political  distinction,  literary  fame,  or  even  the  mad 
enterprises  of  avarice  and  ambition,  and  in  the  din 
of  his  tumultuous  career  can  drown  the  mournful 
voice  that  speaks  of  his  blighted  heart,  and  echoes 
from  its  desolation.  But  ivornan^s  affections,  are 
her  earthly  all.  Ruin  in  these,  is  to  her  an  irrepa- 
rable ruin.  Under  unrequited  love,  the  following 
exquisitely  tender  and  touching  lines  of  the  poet, 
constitute  a  literal  and  faithful  description  of  her 
emotions: — 

"  I  seem  alone,  mid  universal  death, 
Lone  as  a  single  sail  upon  the  sea, — 
Lone  as  a  wounded  swan,  that  leaves  the  flock, 
To  heal  in  secret,  or  to  bleed  and  die." 

But  has  woman,  by  a  strange  fatality,  no  protection, 
no  defence  against  these  unfortunate  entanglements 
of  feeling,  and  those  permanently  misplaced  affec- 
tions which  imbitter  life,  and  consign  so  many  of 
the  sex  to  a  premature  grave?  Who  will  venture 
to  assert,  that  a  righteous  Providence  abandons  the 
most  helpless  of  His  offspring  to  a  destiny  like  this  ? 
No,  a  benevolent  God  has  placed  within  the  reach 
of  woman  the  invaluable  safeguard  of  a  well  trained 
intellect.  Proper  mental  culture  will  not  only 
strengthen  her  judgment  and  powers  of  discrimina- 
31* 


366  ADDRESS, 

tion,  and  give  them  their  appropriate  place  and 
weight,  but  will  also  teach  her  to  discard  and 
despise,  as  equally  absurd  and  mischievous,  all  those 
theories  of  love  found  in  novels  and  works  of  ro- 
mance, which  represent  us,  as  wholly  involuntary 
in  the  exercise  of  the  affections— which  represent 
the  mind  or  heart,  as  a  perfectly  passive  subject,  of 
sudden  and  random  impulses,  in  a  case  involving 
our  dearest  earthly  joys — theories  which  support 
the  dangerous  doctrine  of  a  magical  and  irresistible 
stroke,  smiting  through  the  very  heart  at  the  first 
sight  of  a  person,  before  a  solitary  mental  or  moral 
quality  of  the  individual  is  known  to  us  !  Now  a 
lady  who  has  cultivated  any  acquaintance  with  in- 
tellectual philosophy,  must  know  that  rational  and 
virtuous  love  in  such  a  case,  is  a  physical  impossi- 
bility. Our  affections  are  governed  by  fixed  and  de- 
finite laws,  one  of  which  is,  that  the  discovery  of  real 
or  supposed  excellence  in  an  individual  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  elicit  our  love  for  him.  It  is  admitted, 
that  we  may  be  struck  with  the  personal  beauty  of 
one,  and  have  an  emotion  of  taste,  just  like  that  ex- 
perienced when  beholding  a  finished  and  elegant 
statue,  or  an  exquisitely  fine  production  of  the 
pencil.  But  this  has  no  necessary  connexion  with 
the  exercise  of  our  permanent  and  engrossing  afiec- 
tions.  And  yet,  how  many  yield  themselves  up  to 
this  doctrine  of  downright  fatalism  in  love.  I 
knew  a  somewhat  romantic  young  gentleman,  who 
was  exceedingly  struck  at  first  sight,  with  the  tran- 
scendent beauty  of  features  and  of  form,  in  a  young 
lady,  and  began  to  feel,  and  say  to  himself,  "  This, 
perhaps,  is   the    destined  one, — the  circumstances 


ADDRESS.  3G7 

that  have  thrown  us  together,  are  certainly  peculiar 
— this  is  to  be  the  mysterious,  magic  moment  that 
is  to  give  complexion  to  all  my  remaining  days.'' 
But  after  having  conversed  with  her  awhile  on  the 
subject  of  the  weather,  the  character  of  the  roads, 
(there  were  no  railroads  then,)  and  kindred  topics, 
one  of  those  awkward  pauses  ensued,  which,  as  she 
was  entertaining  the  gentleman  in  her  own  house,  it 
became  desirable  should  be  speedily  broken  up.  Ac- 
cordingly, drawing  her  ruby  lips  in  the  curves  of  a 
smile  that  would  have  graced  the  face  of  a  goddess, 
and  displaying  a  set  of  teeth  that  would  compete 
with  those  which  Solomon  describes  of  his  spouse, 
and  throwing  lines  of  witchery  round  her  eyes  that 
might  have  enchanted  the  veriest  stoic,  she  gave 
the  note  of  preparation  for  utterance,  and  with  an 
ineffably  silly  intonation  of  voice,  asked  the  ques- 
tion— "  Maryland  is  a  right  pretty  little  place, 
is  it  not?'^  The  young  gentleman,  though  of  a 
highly  romantic  and  poetic  temperament,  did  not 
feel  that  he  was  bound  by  an  irresistible  fate  to 
yield  to  his  first  impression,  and  fall  hopelessly  in 
love  with  this  splendid  specimen  of  beautiful  ina- 
nity! Intellectual  cultivation  will  free  you,  ladies, 
from  the  absurd  doctrine,  that  you  must  be  the  un- 
resisting victim  of  this  mysterious  smiting,  at  first 
sight.  Besides,  it  will  form  your  taste  for  the  so- 
ciety of  that  class  of  gentlemen,  who  are  not  only 
capable  of  being  your  companions,  but  of  stimulating 
you,  and  directing  your  efforts  in  making  still  larger 
mental  acquisitions.  Suitable  discipline  of  mind 
will  free  you  from  the  danger  and  the  folly  of  fall- 
ing in  love  with  a  handsome  face,  a  graceful  person. 


368  ADDRESS. 

polished  manners,  and  stereotyped  flattery  in  the 
ahsence  of  all  the  higher  and  nobler  qualities  of 
mind  and  heart,  that  form  the  only  true  basis  of  a 
rational  and  lasting  attachment.  It  will  teach  you 
also,  before  it  is  too  late,  the  fatal  mistake  of  per- 
mitting ivealth  to  have  a  preponderating  influence 
in  the  selection  of  a  partner.  Many  a  warm, 
generous,  youthful  heart,  has  been  bound  to  the 
frigid  dulness  and  stupidity  of  age,  literally,  b}^  a 
golden  link.  This  has  always  seemed  to  me,  the 
most  revolting  spectacle  in  the  social  condition  of 
human  nature.  To  talk  of  happiness,  in  such  a  case, 
is  mockery  and  madness, — 

"  'Tis  beauty  lingering  round  decay, — 
The  farewell  beam  of  feeling  past  away," 

as  far  as  the  lady  is  concerned.  And  it  is  doubt- 
ful, whether  such  a  union  can  add  to  the  domestic 
comforts  of  the  unfortunate  old  husband  himself. 
His  efforts  to  appear  young,  and  his  awkward  at- 
tempts to  adapt  his  manners,  and  adjust  his  spirits 
to  those  of  his  wife — his  uneasy  conviction  of  her 
restlessness  at  being  shut  up  to  his  society  alone — 
his  endeavours  to  sober  down  her  troublesome  and 
untameable  buoyancy,  to  the  point  beyond  which 
he  can  no  longer  raise  his  own,  and  the  insuffer- 
able corrosions  of  jealousy  which  he  experiences, 
when  she  is  thrown  into  the  society  of  gentlemen 
of  her  own  age,  often  cause  him  to  curse  bit- 
terly the  gilded  bait  by  which  he  caught  this 
wayward,  sportive  water  nymph,  who  is  now  con- 
stantly swimming,  diving,  and  dashing  away  from 
his  tremulous  grasp,  in  the  full  and  rapid  current  of 
youth.      Intellectual  cultivation  only,  can  furnish 


ADDRESS.  369 

ladies  the  data  by  which  to  form  a  just  and  enlight- 
ened estimate  of  what  constitutes  the  great  and  per- 
manent element  of  happiness  in  the  endeared  rela- 
tions of  wedded  life.  It  would  bring  them  under  a 
settled  and  practical  conviction,  that  it  is  mind 
only  that  can  make  mind  happy.  It  is  man's 
knowledge  of  the  laws  and  agencies  of  matter  that 
enables  him  to  conform  to  those  laws,  and  employ 
those  agencies  as  the  means  of  his  physical  enjoy- 
ment. So  it  is  his  acquaintance  with  the  laws  and 
agencies  of  mind — with  the  true  philosophy  of  the 
heart  in  all  its  social  phenomena,  which  enables  him 
to  conform  to  these  laws,  and  adapt  himself  to  this 
philosophy,  and  to  control  these  phenomena,  so  as 
to  promote  and  secure  mutual  domestic  happiness. 
I  do  not  affirm,  that  an  intelligent  man  may  not 
render  a  wife  unhappy — because  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  perverted  intelligence — but  I  do  fearlessly 
aver,  that  a  brainless  beauty,  as  rich  as  Croesus,  as 
perfect  in  form  as  Apollo,  as  polished  and  genteel 
in  his  manners  as  a  Chesterfield,  who^  can  dance, 
and  bow,  and  ogle,  and  court  with  infinite  tact,  and 
up  to  the  very  beau  ideal  of  those  ladies  themselves 
who  live  upon  show,  can  never  confer  true  and  last- 
ing happiness  on  a  wife,  unless  she  be  as  brainless 
as  himself.  And  why  intelligent  ladies  will  some- 
times wed  those  meagre  specimens  of  male  humanity, 
who  have  just  "enough  of  soul  to  save  the  expense 
of  salt"  in  their  physical  preservation, — just  enough 
of  mind  super-added  to  their  animal  mechanism,  to 
enable  them  to  perform  a  parrot-like  imitation  of 
men, — is  one  of  the  most  profound  mysteries  in  the 
natural  history  of  women.     Such  ladies  can  never 


370  ADDRESS. 

experience  the  higher  and  nobler  joys  of  married 
life.  It  is  mind  only,  that  can  confer  these; — mind, 
whose  fruitful  powers  of  invention  and  felicitous 
combinations  of  thought,  are  ever  breaking  in  upon 
the  monotonous  realities  of  existence,  and  displacing 
them  for  a  season  by  those  magic  creations  of  its 
own,  in  which  imagination  wanders  with  a  reno- 
vated surprise  and  deli^^ht  at  each  successive  step. 
It  is  mind  alone,  that  can  know  and  control  those 
great  and  permanent  causes  which  operate  to  pro- 
mote and  secure  the  wedded  bliss  of  rational  think- 
ing creatures.  And,  if  there  be  any  case  in  which 
a  disparity  in  age  does  not  impair  domestic  happi- 
ness, it  is  where  the  husband,  despite  the  lapse  of 
years,  still  retains  the  fresh  green  of  youth  in  mind, 
and  has  managed  to  prolong  the  pleasures  of  taste 
and  imagination  beyond  the  bright  and  palmy  days 
of  academic  scenes  and  the  period  of  early  life.  In 
this  case,  the  eye  of  youthful  affection  may  be  blind 
to  the  wrinkles  which  time  has  written  on  her  hus- 
band's brow,  and  to  the  silver  threads  it  has  woven 
in  his  once  raven  locks;  because,  like  the  parent 
eagle,  he  is  still  able  to  take  her  on  the  wings  of  his 
lofty  and  yet  vigorous  intellect,  and  soar  away  to- 
wards the  sun — because  her  heart,  in  its  noblest 
youthful  sensibilities,  is  charmed  and  delighted  with 
the  productions  of  his  genius,  fresh  as  they  were  in 
early  days,  and  richer  than  then,  in  the  results  of  a 
riper  experience,  and  more  enlarged  observation. 
While  all  the  intellectual  qualities  that  command 
esteem  and  admiration  remain  undecayed,  the 
warmth  of  the  heart  and  its  susceptibility  of  ardent 
and  enthusiastic  attachment,  will  not  be  impaired  by 


ADDRESS.  371 

the  wear  of  time  on  '*  tlie  outer  man."  Nay,  minds 
that  are  prone  to  philosophic  melancholy,  and  that 
have  formed  habits  of  profound  and  mournful 
speculation  on  the  mysteries  and  paradoxes  of  our 
present  being,  enjoy  with  great  zest,  the  love  be- 
stowed on  them,  as  years  pass  away,  and  test  the 
permanency  of  all  terrestrial  attachments.  When 
you  wed  then,  young  ladies,  he  sure  that  your 
partner  possess  imperishable  qualities  of  mind, 
adapted  to  enlist  and  retain  your  affections.  It  is 
in  these  alone,  that  the  permanent  source  of  domes- 
tic happiness  is  to  be  found.  The  aflections  which 
rest  on  personal  beauty  and  accomplishments,  or  on 
a  kind  of  physical  politeness  and  amiability,  in 
which  certain  animals  can  vie  with  modern  beaux, 
must,  by  the  lapse  of  time,  and  the  cross  incidents 
of  life,  be  robbed  of  their  object,  and  left  to  wither 
at  the  very  period  when  their  growth  and  vigour 
are  most  important  to  female  happiness.  The  pre- 
sent is,  at  best,  a  troubled  existence.  And  if  to 
woman,  who  has  shared  most  largely  in  the  tem- 
poral consequences  of  the  apostacy,  there  be  any 
compensation  for  its  numerous  social  ills,  it  is  in 
those  refined,  exalted,  and  ennobling  intellectual 
joys,  which  the  talents  of  an  intelligent  husband 
can  create,  and  diffuse,  repeat,  and  perpetuate  in  the 
domestic  circle  till  the  latest  period  of  life.  Genius 
can  shed  its  own  light  on  the  deepest  darkness  of  its 
earthly  home,  and  its  beams  refracted  by  the  very 
tear-drops  of  domestic  sorrow,  form  a  bow  on  the 
evening  cloud  of  to-day,  promising  brighter  hours 
to-morrow. 

But,   married    or   single,  should    your    lives    be 


372  ADDRESS. 

spared,  you  will  arrive  at  a  period  when  the  frivo- 
lous enjoyments  of  youth   can   no   longer  please. 
Who  may  compute  the  influence  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture and  acquisition  on  your  happiness,  in  this  sober, 
not  to  say  sombre,  season  which  inevitably  awaits 
you?     Could  you  check  the  wheels  of  time,  and 
prolong  at  will   the  gladsome  and  sunny  days  of 
youth,  this  might  present  some  semblance  of  apolo- 
gy for  neglecting  the  cultivation  of  your  minds. 
But  protracted  and  full  of  promise  as  the  season  of 
youth  may  seem  to  be,  yet  those  of  us  who  have 
outlived  its  enchanted  hours,  know  that  when  past, 
they  appear  as  the  bright  incidents  of  a  pleasant 
dream,  and  leave  us  to  spend  a  long  and  wakeful 
period,  which,  if  we  are  to  be  happy,  other  employ- 
ments and   other  joys   must  fill.     The  vivid   and 
pleasing  impressions  which  external  objects  make 
on  the  youthful   senses,  must  ultimately  lose  the 
charm  of  their  novelty  by  mere  repetition.     The 
air-built  castles  of  the  young  imagination  must  be 
shaken  and  overthrown  in  ruins,  by  the  inevitable 
occurrences  of  real  and  maturer  life.     Many  of  the 
heart's   wild    and    capricious   attachments   will    be 
blasted  by  betrayal,  or  by  cold  neglect.     The  light, 
unanxious  spirit  of  youth  cannot  always  last.     Its 
buoyancy,  though  now  irrepressible,  cannot  perma- 
nently sustain  itself  at  the  same  pitch  of  elevation, 
for  on  it,  sooner  or  later,  must  press  the  weight  of 
unavoidable  cares.     The  taste  for  the  gay  and  giddy 
pleasures  of  youth   must  become  cloyed,  satiated, 
and  eventually  worn  out.     Your  personal  charms, 
that  now  make  you  the  admiration  and  the  idols  of 
the  other  sex,  and  procure  for  you  innumerable  flat- 


ADDRESS.  373 

tering  attentions,  must  fade.  The  rose  will  wither 
on  3^our  checks,  for  its  allotted  period  of  bloom  is 
only  during  the  brief  spring  of  youth.  Time,  that 
remorseless,  unscrupulous  thief,  will  steal  away 
from  you  one  by  one  your  every  beauty  of  face  and 
of  form,  and  leave  instead  his  own  unsightly  foot- 
prints on  your  features,  and  his  frosts  on  your  heads. 
Borne  along  on  a  returnless  current,  you  will,  be- 
fore you  are  aware,  find  yourselves  quite  beyond 
the  sphere  of  youth's  attractions,  and  far  removed 
from  all  its  peculiar  pleasures.  To  me  no  spectacle 
is  more  melancholy  than  that  of  a  lady  who  has 
sung,  with  too  much  truth,  "77/  he  a  butterfly ^^^ 
who  has  depended  mainly  on  the  charms  of  her  per- 
son for  the  interest  she  has  created,  and  the  return 
of  pleasure  she  has  received  in  society,  who  has  re- 
velled on  the  spontaneous  and  fortuitous  sweets  of 
youth,  with  a  recklessness  and  prodigality  that  never 
looked  beyond  the  present  hour,  who  has  neither 
the  taste  nor  the  capability  of  deriving  aliment  from 
any  thing  but  the  ambrosia  which  filled  the  spark- 
ling cup  of  youth,  what  spectacle  under  the  vast  ex- 
panse of  heaven  more  mournful  than  such  a  lady, 
advanced  to  that  period  when  time  has  taken  away 
these  her  gods  in  which  she  trusted,  and  she  de- 
spairingly exclaims,  "  What  have  1  nioreP^  I^r 
resort  to  rouge  and  cosmetics,  and  all  the  various 
appliances  necessary  to  make  her  appear  young 
again,  her  forced  and  ill-befitting  levity,  her  fruit- 
less efforts  still  to  attract  admiration,  her  aping  the 
easy  volatility  of  a  miss  in  her  teens,  and  her  awk- 
ward, laborious,  and  unsuccessful  endeavours  to  keep 
herself  still  revolving  in  the  orbit  of  youtliful  plea- 
32 


374  ADDRESS. 

sures,  from  which  the  centrilligal  force  of  age  is 
constantly  forcing  her  out,  is  a  sufficiently  sorrow- 
ful view  of  the  doings  of  an  immortal  mind  to  ren- 
der itself  happy  in  the  decline  of  life! 

For  such  a  lady,  married  or  single,  no  source  of 
rational  or  solid  enjoyment  remains,  when  once 
brought,  as  she  will  be,  by  the  auve  and  steady 
lapse  of  time,  into  the  circumstances  to  which  I 
have  just  alluded.  Hannah  More,  with  the  pene- 
tration of  a  profound  philosopher,  has  intimated 
that  "  how  to  grow  old  gracefully  '^  is  one  of  the 
difficult  problems  for  woman  practically  to  solve. 
1  may  add,  too,  that  this  distinguished  lady  herself, 
in  the  closing  years  of  her  long  life,  gave  a  most 
satisfactory  and  sublime  solution  of  this  problem. 
Aside  from  the  joys  of  religion,  females  have  no 
elements  of  happiness  in  the  later  periods  of  their 
lives,  except  those  which  intellectual  cultivation 
supplies.  With  well-trained,  well-disciplined  minds, 
though  living  in  the  single  state,  they  need  not  and 
will  not  be  unhappy  towards  the  close  of  their  mor- 
tal career.  They  will  have  been  taught  in  time  that 
"  the  chief  end  of  woman  "  is  not  to  study  and  prac- 
tise the  frivolous  arts  of  winning  the  temporary  ad- 
miration of  gay  and  thoughtless  gentlemen,  nor  to 
depend  on  the  excitements  of  youthful  society  for 
the  solid  and  rational  enjoyment  after  which  an  in- 
telligent nature  cannot  but  aspire. 

They  will  have  learned,  also,  to  estimate  aright 
their  own  powers  and  capacities  of  happiness,  and 
to  regard  the  mere  pleasures  of  sense  as  essentially 
deficient  in  the  qualities  which  would  fit  them  to 
meet  and  satisfy  those  powers  and  capacities;  and, 


ADDRESS.  375 

by  consequence,  will  prize  intellectual  joys  accord- 
ing to  their  own  intrinsic  and  enduring  value. 
Hence  they  will  aim  to  discipline  all  their  mental 
faculties,  and  to  add  to  their  treasures  of  mind, 
through  their  whole  lives.  This  will  free  them 
from  that  morbid  and  unsatisfied  desire  after  the 
transitory  enjoyments  of  youth,  which  imbitters 
the  later  years  of  an  unfurnished  and  undisciplined 
female  mind.  They  will  have  formed  habits  of  in- 
tellectual activity  which  declining  bodily  vigour 
cannot  impair.  They  will  have  cultivated  and  con- 
firmed a  taste  for  a  class  of  joys  over  which  time 
can  bring  no  blight,  and  outward  change  no  destruc- 
tion. In  the  summer  and  hey-day  of  life  they  will 
have  laid  up  ample  stores  of  enjoyment  for  its  win- 
ter evening. 

Contemplate  for  a  moment  a  lady  who  has  made 
the  cultivation  of  her  mind  (as  it  ought  to  be)  the 
main  object  of  her  life.  She  is  familiar  with,  and 
capable  of  relishing,  the  classic  beauties  of  all  the 
best  authors.  She  has  treasured  in  her  memory  all 
those  prominent  facts  of  history  which  illustrate 
great  principles,  and  give  a  clue  to  the  philosophy 
of  society  in  its  march  of  civilization  and  political 
improvement.  She  has  had,  as  a  subject  of  study 
and  reflection,  the  predominating  traits  in  the  (Jia- 
racter  of  all  the  distinguished  actors  in  the  length- 
ened drama  of  time.  She  is  familiar  with  the  no- 
blest examples  and  models  of  excellence  in  her  own 
sex  that  the  annals  of  the  world  present.  With  the 
practised  eye  of  a  philosopher  she  looks  on  national 
character,  and  on  the  social  and  political  dcvclop- 
mnnts  nnd  proirrrss  of  ihe  race.      Slio  hns  a  ojenoral 


376  ADDRESS. 

knowledge  of  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences.  She 
has  followed  the  geologist  in  his  examination  of  the 
structure  of  the  earth — the  physiologist,  in  scruti- 
nizing the  mysterious  functions  of  animal  and  vege- 
table life — the  chemist,  in  his  beautiful  analysis  of 
the  substances  of  nature — the  natural  philosopher, 
in  his  investigations  of  the  powers  of  matter,  and 
his  classification  of  its  diversified  and  sublime  phe- 
nomena under  general  and  fixed  laws  —  and  as, 
though  aided  by  Elijah's  car,  she  has  mounted  from 
earth  to  heaven  with  the  astronomer,  and  gone  from 
world  to  world  on  burning  wheels,  till  she  has  com- 
pleted the  circuit  of  the  universe !  And,  superadded 
to  all  this,  she  possesses  the  power  of  original,  inde- 
pendent thinking,  which  enables  her  to  avail  herself 
of  these  exhaustless  stores,  to  prosecute  speculations 
of  her  own,  and  give  a  play  to  her  intellectual  acti- 
vity unlimited  as  universal  nature,  and  enduring  as 
the  existence  of  mind  itself. 

Now,  is  not  the  happiness  of  such  a  lady,  in  a 
great  measure,  independent  of  any  periods  of  time 
or  any  combination  of  external  circumstances  ? 
What  though  youthful  days  with  truant  speed  have 
fled,  and  are  irrevocably  gone?  What  though  her 
spirit  has  awoke  from  the  dreams  of  youthful  plea- 
sure ?  What  though  the  young  heart's  fondest  hopes 
have  proved  delusive?  What  though  the  flush  of 
beauty  has  faded  from  her  cheek,  and  the  crowd  of 
admirers  which  it  once  attracted  have  forsaken  her? 
What  though  time  has  insensibly  transferred  her  to 
that  advanced  point  on  the  pathway  of  life  where 
she  travels  comparatively  alone — where  the  distance 
causes  the  din  of  youthful  mirth  and  pleasure  to  die 


ADDRESS.  377 

away  upon  her  ear,  and  instead  of  the  gorgeous  hues 
of  youth's  horizon,  the  lengthening  shadows  of  a 
settino;  sun  stretch  out  before  lier?  Still  that  inlel- 
lectual  world  in  which  she  has  learned  chiefly  to 
live  is  fresh,  and  bright,  and  calm,  and  beautiful 
as  in  other  and  earlier  years.  Its  objects  are  not 
dimmed  by  time  nor  defaced  by  decay.  No  ne- 
glect can  imbitter  to  her  this  source  of  pure  and 
satisfactory  enjoyment;  no  disaster  nor  depression 
of  fortune  can  rob  her  of  these  hidden  treasures  of 
the  soul.  The  joys  of  the  cultivated  mind  seem  to 
be  excepted  from  that  great  law  of  mutation  and 
decay  so  signally  impressed  on  all  things  else  in 
this  terrestrial  economy.  Mental  culture,  then,  will 
render  you  happy  in  that  period  of  life  when  the 
airy  pleasures  of  youth  have  wholly  lost  their  power 
to  please. 

Can  you  desire  a  more  convincing  and  practical 
confirmation  of  this  truth  than  that  furnished  by  the 
last  years  of  that  intellectual  princess  whose  name 
has  already  been  more  than  once  introduced  into 
this  lecture?  A  more  sublime  spectacle  of  the  power 
of  mental  culture  to  bless  the  closing  period  of  wo- 
man's life  the  world  has  seldom  witnessed  than  in 
the  case  of  Hannah  More.  We  contemplate  with 
a  profound  reverence  this  magnificent  specimen  of 
cultivated  female  intellect  which,  as  it  approached 
the  terminus  of  its  earthly  course,  like  the  sun  near 
his  setting,  gave  us  a  deeper  impression  of  its  vast 
dimensions,  and  of  the  richness  and  endless  variety 
of  its  own  resources  of  felicitous  light  and  colour- 
ing! She  had  been  early  disappointed  in  the  pure 
maiden   love  of  her  heart — the   deepest  and    most 


37S  ADDRESS. 

hallowed  affection  of  which  woman  is  capable.  She 
had  once  been  the  admiration  of  the  first  minds  in 
the  metropolis  of  Great  Britain.  Her  society  had 
been  courted,  and  she  had  been  flattered  by  the  no- 
bility of  the  nation.  In  her  youth  she  had  partaken 
largely  of  the  richest  and  most  sparkling  joys  that 
the  very  best  circles  of  English  society  could  afford. 
And  yet,  after  having  outlived  the  period  when 
these  things  could  any  longer  please,  being  desti- 
tute of  those  objects  of  the  domestic  affections  which 
interest  woman  till  the  last,  and  being  consigned  to 
the  retirement  of  rural  life,  she  still  found  in  her 
own  intellectual  resources  the  means  of  a  peaceful 
and  happy  old  age.  At  three-score  and  ten  she  sus- 
tained herself  on  a  mental  elevation  that  would  have 
made  many  a  young  head  dizzy,  and  looked,  with 
the  mind's  eye  undimmed  by  years,  over  the  same 
pleasant  landscape  where  she  had  often  wandered 
delighted  in  earlier  da5"s.  Her  intellectual  pleasures 
seemed  to  derive  nourishment  and  to  flourish  from 
the  very  decay  that  time  brought  on  all  the  ordi- 
nary and  short-lived  joys  of  a  coarser  kind.  Her 
mind,  "like  frankincense,"  gave  out  its  sweetness 
the  more  freely  as  the  process  of  consuming  the 
corporeal  part  with  which  it  was  united  went  on  to- 
wards completion.  To  see  a  female  mind  that  has 
buffeted  alone  all  the  storms  of  a  long  and  eventful 
life — that  has  risen  above  its  accumulated  clouds, 
and  trampled  their  darkness  beneath  its  feet,  thus 
sustaining  itself  till  the  last  upon  its  own  resources, 
bright,  buoyant,  and  happy  at  the  closing  hour, 
teaches  us  not  only  to  prize  mental  culture  and  to 
reverence  looinan^s  intellectual  nature,  but  points 


ADDRESS.  379 

to  that  august  immortality  which  God  has  provided 
for  the  redeemed  mind,  where  its  range  of  action 
and  enjoyment  shall  be  co-extensive  with  the  uni- 
verse and  commensurate  with  eternity! 

Indulge  me,  ladies,  with  a  desultory  remark  or 
two  in  conclusion.  The  interest  which  I  feel  in 
you  as  the  young  people  of  my  pastoral  charge,  and 
the  affection  which  I  cherish  towards  you  all,  have 
led  me  to  devote  an  hour  one  evening  each  week 
during  the  past  six  months  for  your  intellectual 
gratification  and  improvement.  The  pleasure  which 
these  exercises  have  afforded  me  has  been  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  hope  that  I  may  thus  succeed  in 
forming  in  you  a  taste  and  awakening  a  desire  for 
intellectual  pursuits.  As  I  sincerely  wish  your  hap- 
piness, I  cannot  but  feel  a  deep  solicitude  that  you 
should  early  learn  to  prize  mental  cultivation,  and 
to  identify  it  with  the  most  pure  and  solid  enjoy- 
ment of  which  your  nature  at  present  is  susceptible. 
Most  of  you  are  in  the  morning  of  life.  The  dew 
of  your  youth  is  not  yet  exhaled  by  "  the  heat,"  nor 
your  buoyancy  crushed  by  "the  burden  of  the  day." 
You  possess  innumerable  facilities  for  intellectual 
acquirements,  denied  to  your  sex  in  a  former  age. 
In  proportion  as  the  benefits  of  education  become 
general  amongst  the  other  sex,  you  will  be  laid 
under  the  necessity  of  a  corresponding  mental  ad- 
vancement, to  retain  your  position  in  society,  and 
to  command  that  respect  which  intelligent  gentle- 
men can  only  accord  to  intelligent  ladies.  The 
world  expects  more  from  you  than  it  did  or  does 
now  from  your  mothers,  and  you  ought  to  gird 
yourselves  to  the  work   of  meeting   its  reasonable, 


380  ADDRESS. 

though  enlarged  demands.  The  social  sphere  which 
God  has  assigned  to  you  an  angel  could  not  fill;  and 
to  your  keeping,  more  than  to  angels,  he  has  com- 
mitted some  of  the  earliest  and  the  dearest  interests 
of  human  nature.  Intelligence  is  indispensable  to 
the  fulfilment  of  the  high  duties  of  this  sphere,  and 
to  the  securing  the  sacred  interests  which  it  in- 
volves. Let  your  aim  be  high,  then;  "  mount  as  on 
wings  of  eagles,  run  and  not  be  weary,  walk  and  not 
faint"  in  the  career  of  knowledge  and  improvement. 
If  I  have  contributed  aught  to  your  happiness,  or 
inspired  you  with  even  a  moderate  emulation  for 
intellectual  attainments  during  the  past  season,  I 
shall  consider  myself  as  amply  repaid  for  my  la- 
bours. That  our  connexion  in  these  exercises  has 
strengthened  the  bonds  of  esteem  and  affection  be- 
tween us  I  do  not  doubt.  In  the  close  of  your 
meetings  for  the  season,  and  in  taking  my  leave  of 
you  for  the  present,  I  feel  the  commingling  of  ten- 
der recollections  and  pleasing  anticipations.  I  see 
among  you  those  who,  during  the  past  season,  have 
indulged  the  precious  hope  of  the  Christian,  conse- 
crated yourselves  to  God,  become  the  lambs  of  my 
flock  and  the  prospective  jewels  of  my  crown  of  re- 
joicing in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  To  me  this 
forms  the  most  hallowed  recollection  of  our  associ- 
ated existence.  However  I  might  rejoice  in  your 
intellectual  improvement,  I  must  rejoice  more  in 
your  early  piety.  "  Rich  are  the  tints  of  that  beaut}^ 
and  fragrant  those  flowers  on  which,  in  the  morning 
of  life,  the  Lord  our  God  sheds  down  the  dews  of 
his  blessing." 

May  He  keep  you,  and  all  the  members  of  this 


ADDRESS.  3S1 

society,  during  the  interval  that  is  to  elapse  before 
we  meet  again,  under  the  shadow  of  His  own  al- 
mighty wings.  And  when  the  meetings  and  part- 
ings of  earth  are  over,  may  we  be  reunited  in  that 
brighter  world  where  the  intellect,  unclogged  by 
sense  and  unclouded  by  sin,  shall  know  even  as  it  is 
known,  and  tbe  heart,  freed  from  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  time,  find  an  unlimited  and  eternal 
scope  for  the  play  of  all  its  benevolent  affections. 


